Trump ‘chose oil companies over family farmers,’ says senator
The Trump administration is siding with Big Oil despite announcing a plan to increase ethanol consumption, farm state senators told the No. 2 USDA official on Thursday. “That’s a president that has chosen oil companies over family farmers,” said one of the critics, Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio.
EPA ethanol plan ‘falls short of the promises,’ says House ag chairman
The Trump administration “has yet ... to produce a concrete plan to meet the annual 15 billion-gallon requirement” for mixing corn ethanol into the U.S. gasoline supply, said House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson on Wednesday.
‘Patriot farmers’ urge Trump to act on ethanol
As recently as Wednesday, President Trump lauded farmers as “great patriots” for their forbearance in the face of ag exports lost due to the Sino-U.S. trade war. A handful of corn and soybean farmers active in biofuels policy said on Thursday that there is less patience in farm country for the administration’s handling of the ethanol mandate.
Midwestern Senators ask, ‘Where’s our ethanol deal?’
Roughly ten days ago, Midwestern senators left a meeting with President Trump believing they had an agreement to solidify corn ethanol’s share of the gasoline market. Yet Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said on Tuesday he had no idea why the administration has not announced the plan, arguing “it …
Lawmakers call for review of EPA’s ethanol waivers
A dozen lawmakers called on Wednesday for a review of the explosion in ethanol waivers awarded by the EPA in the past two years. In a letter to the Government Accountability Office, the lawmakers said many of the small-volume refineries that applied for waivers did not need them.
Largest ethanol maker closes Indiana plant, blames EPA waivers
At the same time that POET, the largest U.S. ethanol maker, said it was forced to shut down an Indiana plant due to EPA “mismanagement” of the ethanol mandate, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said that “farmers feel the government isn’t keeping its word” on biofuels.
Farm Belt howls as EPA proposes no-growth biofuel mandate for 2020
The Trump administration proposed a Renewable Fuel Standard of 20.04 billion gallons for 2020, meaning no change in corn ethanol's share of the gasoline market for cars and light trucks, while the share of that market going to cleaner-burning cellulosic ethanol, made from grass and woody plants, will increase by 120 million gallons. Farm groups and biofuel makers, who opened the summer with a celebration that higher-blend E15 was approved for year-round sale, said the EPA bowed to Big Oil.
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.
Farm and biofuel groups scoff at EPA’s ethanol mandate
The Renewable Fuel Standard would be set at 19.88 billion gallons in 2019, up 3 percent from this year and all for cleaner-burning "advanced" biofuels, under a proposal unveiled by Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday.
Report: EPA to propose mild increase in biofuels targets
The EPA will keep its mandate for use of corn ethanol as a gasoline additive at 15 billion gallons in 2019, while proposing higher targets for biodiesel and other advanced biofuels, said Reuters, based on two sources who were briefed on the proposal. The agency was expected to unveil within days its proposal for the Renewable Fuel Standard for 2019.
Trump signals ethanol decision to Iowa senator: ‘I did you a good favor for the farmers’
President Trump confirmed in public what was being whispered in private — that he would not allow ethanol exports to count toward meeting U.S. biofuel targets — in greeting Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst at a bill-signing ceremony on Wednesday.
EPA is challenged on small refiner exemption
A coalition of ethanol and farm groups sued the EPA in federal appeals court on Tuesday over its system of granting "hardship" waivers from the Renewable Fuel Standard to small-volume refineries. The lawsuit challenges three exemptions "made under unusually clandestine proceedings" to refineries in Oklahoma, Wyoming and Utah.
Trump okays E15, will mull whether to count ethanol exports as part of RFS
President Trump resolved two persistent questions about biofuels on Tuesday, allowing the year-round sale of higher blends of ethanol in gasoline, which will benefit corn farmers, and saying he will consider whether ethanol exports should be counted as part of the government's target for biofuels use, a step that would relieve pressure on oil refiners.
Destination: White House. Topic: RFS. Result: Who knows?
Corn state senators are expected to press President Trump today to support the year-round sale of E15 gasoline at a White House meeting, while oil state senators will be seeking a cap on the price of RINs. Neither side knows what to expect.
Corn Belt senators ask EPA, who got the RFS waivers?
Pointing to reports that big oil companies have received RFS waivers intended for small-volume refiners, 13 Corn Belt senators asked EPA administrator Scott Pruitt for an accounting of the waivers and their impact on the ethanol mandate. The bipartisan group said the waivers "clearly undermine the president's long-standing support of the RFS."
EPA could shave the RFS by a billion gallons with waivers to small refineries
The biofuel group Growth Energy called on the EPA to stop handing out waivers it says oil refiners are using to avoid complying with the federal mandate to mix corn ethanol into gasoline.
Big oil refinery gets EPA waiver from RFS typically given to small operators
Andeavor, one of the largest U.S. oil refining companies, reported $1.5 billion in net profits last year. Yet the EPA gave it a waiver from having to comply with the Renewable Fuel Standard, reported Reuters.
In biofuel tussle, farm-sector fear that Trump will side with oil industry
President Trump campaigned as a champion of corn ethanol but, as a boon to the oil industry, he could put a cap on the price of credits, called RINs, that refiners must buy if they don't blend enough ethanol and biodiesel into the U.S. fuel supply. The idea, which Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley calls "a non-starter," splits two blocs of Trump's supporters, farmers and refinery workers.
Settlement proposed in green group challenge of RFS
The EPA, to settle a lawsuit over biofuel regulation, said on Monday it would consult with federal wildlife agencies on whether the Renewable Fuel Standard adversely affects endangered species. The consultation would be performed before the EPA finalizes the RFS for 2023-23, now expected in June.