In response to a request by the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a 15 day extension of the comment period on the requests for a waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). NCGA filed for an extension on August 30, 2012 and applauded EPA’s decision. The waiver was requested so corn growers and other energy crop farmers had a chance to participate more fully in the process. This will also enable the EPA to have a more accurate picture of the year’s final corn supply.

“We are pleased to see the EPA take this important action to help ensure that the process outlined in the Renewable Fuel Standard moves forward in a thoughtful, analytical fashion,” said NCGA President Garry Niemeyer. “This extension will allow our farmers, who are currently harvesting the crop, to participate more fully and for a more accurate assessment of the final corn supply to emerge.”

In its weekly crop progress report issued yesterday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that 15 percent of the nation’s corn has been harvested – triple the five-year average at this point in time. The reason is the impact of this year’s devastating drought and the recognition that farmers won’t gain much by delaying their corn harvest. Tomorrow the USDA will be releasing its monthly production and supply-and-demand reports.

The comment period was originally scheduled to close at the end of September, but will now remain open until October 11, 2012. During a previous comment period in 2008 for a partial waiver of the RFS, EPA received more than 15,000 submissions from throughout the country.