In the run up to the November election, Biofuels Vision 2020 is launching a new ad campaign raising the alarm over a major regulatory threat to the economic recovery in Iowa. The new sizable, five-figure digital ad buy calls on Iowa voters to share their concerns about the Trump administration’s track record on biofuels, which has become a major focus of debate in key Midwest races for the House, Senate, and the presidency. The display and social media ads will appear in heavy rotation over the next three weeks, highlighting that “rural America is under siege by Trump’s EPA” and calling on the president to keep his promises to Iowa corn and soybean farmers.
“Rural communities face historic economic hardship in the wake of COVID-19, trade wars, and years of regulatory abuse,” said Biofuels Vision 2020 member Daryl Haack, a corn farmer in Primghar, Iowa and member of the board of Little Sioux Corn Processors. “We are not going to sit idly by and watch the Trump EPA sabotage the very foundation of our rural recovery. Iowans can’t afford to pay the price for any more backdoor handouts to well-connected oil companies.”
The issue has taken on new urgency after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began considering a new round of retroactive oil company exemptions from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), vastly expanding a controversial practice that has already destroyed demand for more than four billion gallons of homegrown biofuels, made from Iowa farm crops like soybeans and corn. Just this month, the EPA confirmed six new petitions from refiners seeking to skirt obligations under the RFS – bringing the total to 86, including 58 retroactive exemption requests.
“There’s no reason President Trump can’t fix this well before November, when Iowa voters will decide whether or not he really cares about rural America,” added Haack. “We’re not asking for anything unreasonable—just keep your promise and follow the law. The era of demand destruction has to end now, so Iowa biofuel plants can reopen and farm families can focus on rebuilding the agricultural supply chain.”
