TOLEDO, Ohio — Local refinery workers and elected officials rallied Thursday to oppose a potential increase in mandated ethanol production.
The aim? To convince elected officials, all the way up to the White House, to not increase the federal mandate of ethanol production at fuel refineries.
Currently, all refineries nationwide are obligated to mix a certain percentage of Ethanol from corn into refined fuel. It's called the RFS mandate.
But now President Donald Trump has received a proposal to increase that mandated amount to help support the sale of corn crops.
"Because Ethanol is an important commodity, we use it. But we would use it without the mandate. The problem with the program is it's trying to force more ethanol into the system than the system and the infrastructure can handle," said Chet Thompson, President/Ceo of American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers.
Currently, the Toledo Refining Company isn't equipped to produce Ethanol, so to stay in compliance, they have to pay for compliance credits.
If the mandate is increased, so will the demand for those credits. That means more money spent on the RFS Mandate, and less on capital expenditures and salaries.
"You know, our facility alone was paying over 100 million dollara a year for these RINs credits, and the whole company was upwards of a half a billion dollars a year," said Justin Donley, president of USW Local 912.
Folks at the rally believe there is a happy medium between supporting the agricultural industry and supporting the refining industry.
"How do we do public policy that makes winners in Iowa and losers in Ohio? How does it work to support the people of Des Moines at the cost of the people of Toledo? We're all the same Americans to do this," said Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken.
Event organizers are saying that a decision on the new RFS mandate is expected to be made within a week.
Which leaves a very small window for people who are either for or against the mandate increase to contact their elected officials to let them know how they feel.
"At a time when Ohio farmers are struggling with one of the worst planting seasons on record, rural communities cannot afford more handouts to oil giants like Exxon and Chevron. We urge President Trump to protect Ohio's farm families by upholding his commitment to the Renewable Fuel Standard and directing the EPA to account for lost ethanol gallons," Rick Fox, President of the Ohio Ethanol producers association released a statement following today's rally said.
