AFPM Launches Ad Campaign Urging the President to Protect Refinery Jobs

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July 09, 2019

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(American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers) Today (July 8, 2019), AFPM launched an advertising campaign asking President Trump to keep his promise to protect U.S. refiners from unchecked ethanol mandates that threaten to kill our jobs. This campaign comes on the heels of increasing calls from the ethanol industry to eliminate small refinery exemptions – a critical lifeline for small refineries that experience disproportionate economic hardship from the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The campaign is running in Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan. READ MORE

Fuel Makers Launch Ad Criticizing Trump Ethanol Mandates (Associated Press/New York Times)

President Donald Trump to visit Milwaukee for fundraiser as oil refineries launch ad against ethanol mandates (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Trump Defends Refinery Waivers By Noting Expanded Ethanol Sales (Bloomberg Quint)

A political 'fight to the knife' over ethanol comes to Wisconsin (Wisconsin State Journal)

Fact Check: RFA Ad Misleads on Renewable Fuel Standard and Small Refiner Exemptions (American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers)

Excerpt from Associated Press/New York Times: An association representing oil refineries launched a television ad in four swing states Monday criticizing President Donald Trump's moves to expand the use of ethanol in gasoline.

The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers' 30-second spot will run statewide through July in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin. The group didn't immediately say how much it was spending on the buy.

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For more than a decade federal law has mandated that oil refineries mix ethanol into their fuel. The Trump administration's former Environmental Protection Agency chief, Scott Pruitt, had angered lawmakers, growers and ethanol processors by granting exemptions sparing refineries from that mandate. The dispute sparked a billboard campaign and a tractor rally by angry Midwestern farmers last year.

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Corn growers pushed back against the ad Monday. Tad Nicholson, executive director of the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association, said in a statement that the ethanol industry supports tens of thousands of jobs and gives consumers a choice at the pump. Jim Zook, executive director of the Michigan Corn Growers Association, said the industry has contributed to millions of dollars of economic activity.

"This ad is nothing more than another attempt by the petroleum industry to maintain their near-monopoly on the fuel supply at the expense of American consumers," Zook said. READ MORE

Excerpt from Bloomberg Quint: Because of the squabbling among the EPA, USDA and Department of Energy, said one person briefed on the situation, the matter ultimately may have to be resolved by the president. In recent weeks, both oil and agricultural groups have taken to Trump’s favorite television news source, Fox News, among other outlets to make their cases on the waivers. Ernst, along with other Midwestern lawmakers, including Senator Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican, have introduced legislation to increase transparency in the waiver process. READ MORE

Excerpt from Wisconsin State Journal: “There’s (a) civil war within the Republican Party,” said Scott Irwin, chairman of agricultural marketing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“It’s pitting two significant Republican constituencies of the president and neither one is now in a position to issue any kinds of compromises,” Irwin said. “It’s a fight to the knife.”

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Geoff Moody, vice president of government relations for AFPM, said the ad is a response to signs that Trump may be sympathetic to the ethanol industry rhetoric.

“Our goal here is to really show both him and people impacted both sides of the story,” Moody said. “We wanted to take our story to the voters.”

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Refiners say the ethanol mandate threatens jobs. According to the AFPM, the refining industry indirectly supports 8,754 jobs in Wisconsin and has an economic impact of nearly $900 million.

But Wisconsin’s nine ethanol plants can produce more than 530 million gallons a year, making Wisconsin the ninth-largest ethanol-producing state in the country, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

And, according to the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association, ethanol production in Wisconsin generates $4.2 billion in economic activity and supports 19,000 jobs.

“They’re right,” Geoff Cooper, CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said of the refiners’ group. “It’s a jobs issue — the other way.”

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Wisconsin is home to just one refinery, Husky Energy’s plant in Superior, which has been shut down since a fire in April 2018. Company spokeswoman Kim Guttormson said reconstruction is expected to begin this fall with an anticipated startup in 2021.

The plant’s capacity is below the threshold needed to apply for a waiver from the biofuels mandate. But Guttormson would not say whether it has received an exemption in the past or would seek one when it reopens. The EPA did not respond to a request for a list of refineries that have applied for or received waivers.

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In a report last month, the Government Accountability Office concluded the Renewable Fuel Standard “is likely associated with modest gasoline price increases outside of the Midwest,” but those increases may have diminished.

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Chad Spotts, 38, grows crops on about 3,700 acres in Green County and sells virtually all his corn — 40 to 50 truckloads a month — to the ethanol plant.

Without the plant, Spotts said he’d likely have to haul his crop to a grain terminal on the Illinois River, which would take more time and fuel — and twice as many trucks.

A Republican, Spotts said he voted for Trump in 2016, but didn’t have high hopes.

“I thought it was the lesser of two evils for ag,” he said.

But between the administration’s targeting of ethanol and a trade war Trump started with China that has cratered the soybean market, Spotts isn’t sure he’d vote for Trump again.

“He’s really messed ag up pretty bad,” he said. “There’s way more than just ethanol. Trade deals that aren’t happening. These bailouts. None of us want these bailouts. It’s a joke. If he didn’t mess with our markets, he wouldn’t have to give us this money back.”

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The second-largest of Wisconsin’s nine ethanol plants, Badger State produces about 85 million gallons a year — in addition to byproducts like animal feed, carbon dioxide and corn oil that goes into biodiesel.

CEO Erik Huschitt said the 17-year-old plant, which has more than doubled its original capacity, employs about 50 workers and buys corn grown within a 120-mile radius.

“Our industry is vitally important to the state and the whole nation,” said Huschitt, who is also president of the Wisconsin Biofuels Association. “Industry was built. Investment took place. ... Now we have these games being played. We’re being hurt.”

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Biofuel producers argue waivers for refineries undercut the total amount of biofuel that Congress intended to be used.

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Irwin, who studies agricultural markets, said the waivers have had the biggest impact on biodiesel, but have also likely hindered the growth of higher ethanol blends, like E15 and E85.

“This is not to say that the ethanol industry hasn’t taken some hits,” Irwin said. “Whatever growth would have been possible … the (waivers) have probably eliminated that.” READ MORE