Myron Ebell, the head of Donald Trump’s transition team for EPA, “is a long-time opponent of the Renewable Fuels Standard and ethanol policies,” says DTN. In addition, Ebell, who works at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, “also is a renowned skeptic of climate science.”
As recently as last week in Iowa, Trump said he supports ethanol, and a campaign spokesman said Trump’s support for the RFS was unwavering. DTN said the Trump campaign did not respond to its question on the difference in views between Ebell and Trump.
In 2013, Ebell co-signed a letter to Congress from a coalition of groups that called the ethanol mandate “a clumsy command-and-control mechanism” to force the use of biofuels.
Last week, Sam Clovis, Trump’s chief policy adviser, said the campaign was “looking very hard at putting a farmer or rancher in charge of the EPA.” Clovis also said during a radio interview that, if elected, Trump would quash the EPA’s Water of the United States rule, which defines the upstream reach of federal clean-water laws. Farm groups say it intrudes on private property.