EPA issues biofuel mandate, is accused of breaking a deal on ethanol
Less than two weeks before the new year, the EPA said it modified the Renewable Fuel Standard to ensure that “a net of 15 billion gallons” of corn ethanol is blended into gasoline in 2020. But ethanol makers and farm groups were skeptical that the EPA’s final version of the RFS, issued on …
EPA to drop proposal for younger pesticide applicators
On the same day that President Trump nominated Andrew Wheeler to be EPA administrator, the agency said it would withdraw a Trump-era proposal to set a minimum age of 16 for farmworkers to handle, mix, or apply pesticides, down from the age 18 limit specified in a 2015 regulation.
Wheeler ‘working very hard’ on year-round E15, says Grassley
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is “working very hard to find a solution” for the year-round sale of E15, said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. Grassley also said that an earlier proposal that would allow refiners to earn the credits called RINs for exports is “no longer on the table” at the EPA.