DES MOINES, Iowa (KCAU) – Some Iowa agriculture and renewable fuel groups are speaking out against Vice President Mike Pence as he visits the state Thursday.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Soybean Association, and the Iowa Biodiesel Board sent an open letter to Pence as he is set to speak at an event hosted by Heritage Action, a group they said opposes renewable fuel standards.

While they say the group “promotes several laudable issues,” the IRFA said that Pence’s being at the event elevates the stance against renewable fuels and is a concern to rural Iowans.

In the letter, the groups said President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has already undermined the renewable fuel standard, saying they granted dozens of illegal RFS refinery exemptions, “which have destroyed demand for more than 4 billion gallons of homegrown biofuels.”

The letter also said that they are waiting for Trump to fulfill his promise to protect the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) at statutory levels. They said that White House officials said that 15-billion gallons of ethanol would be blended year-round but they are still waiting.

“If the TrumpAdministration is delaying this important action until after the election, how can we interpret that as anything but turning your back on farmers and biofuels producers?” the letter asks.

They ask Pence to address the matters for rural communities and for Trump to direct the EPA to reject 60 RFS exemption petitions.

Read the full letter below: