At a bankrupt Philadelphia oil refinery, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called on pro-ethanol President Trump to protect blue-collar jobs by reforming the federal biofuels mandate. The news site philly.com said Cruz, who is making his case in part by blocking the Senate from voting on a USDA nominee, has made the Renewable Fuel Standard a major issue in his re-election campaign.
Cruz spoke at a rally at Philadelphia Energy Solutions a day after the Iowa Republican Party warned that he was endangering his chances of a repeat victory in the state’s presidential caucuses with his four-month hold on Bill Northey. If confirmed, Northey, an Iowan, would be the No. 3 official at the USDA and would oversee its crop subsidy, crop insurance, and land stewardship programs. Cruz is holding the nomination hostage in hopes of persuading midwestern senators to modify the ethanol mandate. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a leading ethanol proponent, says Cruz would destroy the RFS.
The Philadelphia refinery says it went broke because of the high cost of buying credits, known as RINs, to show compliance with the RFS. The ethanol industry says the refinery made poor management decisions.
Cruz told the audience of refinery workers that he would have ended the RFS if he had been elected in 2016, reported DTN/Progressive Farmer. “At the same time, he called on federal lawmakers to reform the law to benefit refiners and farmers.” Cruz won the Republican presidential caucus in Iowa in 2016 with strong rural support even though he was advocating a five-year phaseout of the RFS.