In a letter to President Trump, five Corn Belt senators said on Monday the EPA “is currently undermining your commitment of a 15 billion-gallon RFS.” The Republican senators sent the letter on the same day White House officials were scheduled to discuss possible revisions to the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires oil refiners to blend in the corn-based ethanol.
The letter pointed to EPA’s waiver of RFS requirements at two dozen small-volume refineries for 2016 under a hardship provision intended to keep refineries in business. The number of waivers climbed sharply for obligations to meet the 2016 and 2017 RFS. Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa, Roy Blunt of Missouri and Deb Fischer of Nebraska said the exemptions will reduce demand for corn for making ethanol and adversely affect commodity prices.
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Steve Censky indicated the USDA opposed action on the price of RINs, the credits that refiners buy to show compliance with the RFS if they don’t blend enough ethanol into gasoline. RIN prices are down sharply since last fall. “The president has said he supports the RFS and so do we,” Censky said at the North American Agricultural Journalists meeting.