Sessions Statement on EPA’s Proposed Renewable Fuel Volume Obligations for 2019

I am pleased to see the EPA move forward with its policy of allowing for temporary hardship relief from its annual Renewable Volume Obligations. While renewable fuels play an important role in our country’s all-of-the-above energy policy, they should not be the beneficiary of an anti-competitive government mandate.

Just as federal law mandates refiners blend biofuels, it gives the EPA the ability to provide refiners with these important exemptions. These exemptions protect Americans from higher gas prices at the pump and have directly contributed to our domestic energy revolution. I applaud the EPA for these important actions that will help Texas’s oil and gas refineries in addition to fellow Texans who hit the road this summer.