DuPont Names New Vice President of Public Policy & Sustainability; API Looking at New Plans for Renewable Fuel Standards

DuPont announced Wednesday that former USDA deputy secretary Krysta Haden has joined the company as the vice president of Public Policy & Chief Sustainability Officer. Harden left USDA at the end of February and will now lead DuPont’s public policy and government affairs strategies, as well as its sustainability, philanthropy, product stewardship and global regulatory activities, according to the company. Harden takes the position previously held by Linda Fisher, who elected to retire last month. She will continue to work from Washington D.C.

The oil lobby is polling its members to come up with new strategies for attacking the Renewable Fuel Standard in the wake of significant policy and political shifts in the ethanol world. American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard told the Pro Energy team, "There's a lot of different approaches.” API has long advocated for a full repeal of the program, though that has proved a tall order thanks to bipartisan support from corn-state lawmakers. The EPA's decision in November to cut back on the ethanol requirement, along with gasoline consumption lagging well behind what Congress envisioned in 2007, have changed the nature of the program and heightened interest in the issue.