Ricketts Questions EPA General Counsel Nominee on Need to “Follow the Law” in the Renewable Fuel Standard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, pushed for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to follow the law and issue timely Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs). Ricketts questioned Sean Donahue, who has been nominated to be the top attorney at EPA.

“As the general counsel, you’ll give the advice to the agency with regard to what they’re supposed to be doing to follow the law,” Ricketts said. “One of those laws, the Renewable Fuel Standard, very clearly mandates periodic rulemakings for the Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs). This is something where the last administration failed to comply with the law. In June of 2022, the Biden administration published retroactive rulemakings in 2020-2021 and 2022 that under-protected biofuel volumes by billions of gallons. The 2023 RVOs were published a year later, too late in the year for producers or the fuel markets to adjust. The 2026 RVOs were due November 2024, but won’t actually be published until December 2025. Again, the last administration failed to follow the law.”

“What the EPA is supposed to be doing with regards to their obligations on the RVOs, getting those published in a timely matter,” Ricketts said. “What I’m asking you is you will you give the administration, the EPA, the advice that they need to follow the statutory RVOs and do it in a timely manner as the law prescribes?”

“We will follow the law, Senator,” Donahue said. 

Ricketts made the comments in a nominations hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The hearing considered the nominations of Brian Nesvik to be Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Jessica Kramer to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Sean Donahue to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Click here to watch the hearing.