In late June, days before it proposed a target of 15 billion gallons for U.S. consumption of corn ethanol, the EPA was ready to force refiners to blend a larger volume of biofuels into the gasoline and diesel fuel supply, reported Reuters on Wednesday. The agency dropped the idea under pressure from the oil industry.
“The plan would have boosted the renewable fuel blending requirement for the refining industry to 11.76 percent,” said Reuters, instead of the 10.88 percent that was proposed on June 29. The higher percentage would have offset the effect of waivers given to small-volume refineries from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). During the Trump administration, the EPA has granted three times as many waivers as it previously allowed.
Farm and ethanol groups say the waivers effectively reduce the ethanol mandate. The oil industry, which has fought the RFS for years, says the gasoline supply is saturated at the traditional 10 percent blend of ethanol into gasoline. Refiners are forced to buy credits, known as RINs, to comply with the RFS if they don’t blend enough biofuels.
Details of the change in direction on the RFS were part of documents released by the EPA under a requirement that federal agencies provide insight into their deliberations, said Reuters.