EPA expands biofuels exemptions to refineries, ethanol interests say it's an end-run around renewable fuel standard - Entrepreneur Generations

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the request of 25 small refineries to be exempted from the nation’s biofuels laws, an agency source said on Wednesday, marking a big increase from previous years and triggering an outcry from farm groups worried the move will hurt ethanol demand," Jarrett Renshaw and Chris Prentice report for Reuters.

Refineries are required to blend biofuels such as ethanol into the nation's fuel each year. The Trump administration came under fire last fall after considering rolling back the Renewable Fuels Standard, a clash that pitted petroleum state Republicans against their corn state counterparts. Trump ultimately caved and kept the RFS steady after Republican Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, threatened to hold up judicial nominees if the RFS was reduced.

In the past the EPA has issued between six and eight waivers per year to small refineries for whom RFS compliance would be a financial hardship, but the unprecedented expansion has triggered outrage from biofuels advocates. "Brooke Coleman, head of the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, said he was concerned EPA’s Pruitt was using the waivers to gut a program he dislikes," Renshaw and Prentice report. And Grassley said the move raises legal questions.

The move triggered a dramatic drop in U.S. renewable fuel credits, which fell as low as 29 cents each on Wednesday, the first time they've fallen below 30 cents since Sept. 2015.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2GCyJ4V EPA expands biofuels exemptions to refineries, ethanol interests say it's an end-run around renewable fuel standard - Entrepreneur Generations

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