RFA Extends Ethanol Invite as EPA Head Visits Oil Refinery

July 29, 2019

Print This Article Share it With Friends

(Renewable Fuels Association) The Renewable Fuels Association has invited U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler to visit an ethanol plant as a follow-up to his tour of a Pennsylvania oil refinery. Wheeler was scheduled to visit Monroe Energy’s plant in Trainer, Penn., today at the invitation of Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who just last week filed legislation in Congress to gut the Renewable Fuel Standard.

“Administrator Wheeler will certainly get an earful of myths and misinformation about the RFS, RINs, and small refinery exemptions during his visit to the Monroe Energy crude oil refinery,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “Therefore, we felt it was necessary to give the Administrator an opportunity to hear the other side of the story, and we hope he balances his visit to Monroe with a tour of an RFA member ethanol plant and discussion with plant workers and local farmers.”

The Monroe facility, owned by Delta Air Lines, refines 185,000 barrels of crude oil per day. At this size, the facility does not meet the statutory definition of a “small refinery” and thus may not petition EPA for a “disproportionate economic hardship” exemption from the Renewable Fuel Standard. In 2015, Monroe notched record operating income when RIN prices were three times higher than current levels. And earlier this month, parent company Delta announced record revenue of $12.5 billion in its second quarter.

“During your visit, you likely will hear the refiners’ perspective on the Renewable Fuel Standard, and they will no doubt encourage you to continue EPA’s unprecedented use of small refinery exemptions,” Cooper wrote in his invitation letter. “Even though Monroe Energy is not a ‘small refinery,’ Delta officials will certainly argue that the company has benefited from the waivers because they resulted in a significant collapse in RIN prices. Of course, your agency’s own analysis has concluded that the financial health of refineries is not affected by RIN prices, stating that, ‘…obligated parties, including small entities, are generally recovering the cost of acquiring the credits necessary for compliance with the RFS standards through higher sales prices of the petroleum products they sell.’”

Cooper is hopeful that Wheeler will come and learn more about the challenges the ethanol industry is facing. While Wheeler was briefly at Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE) in June as President Trump made an appearance there to celebrate completion of the year-round E15 rule, he was not able to tour the facility with President Trump, Cooper, and SIRE CEO Mike Jerke.

“I know you are a fair-minded individual who is looking for the right answers to the policy questions surrounding ethanol and the RFS,” he wrote. “I also believe you would benefit greatly from hearing from ethanol plant workers and farmers about the impacts of your agency’s decisions on the RFS.” READ MORE

WHEELER VISITS PHILLY REFINERY: (Politico's Morning Energy)

WHEELER TOUTS DEREGULATION: (Politico's Morning Energy)

U.S. EPA set to rule on refinery biofuel waivers requests in coming weeks (Reuters)

President Trump's Top Environmental Official Andrew Wheeler Visited a Refinery Outside Philadelphia: Here's What He Said (NBC Philadelphia)

EPA Chief Urged to Visit Ethanol Plant (Energy.AgWired.com)

Wheeler touts rollbacks, blasts critics at refinery tour (E&E News)

Trump administration official visits Delaware County refinery to hear gripes about ethanol (Philadelphia Inquirer)

U.S. Refiners to Learn Fate of Biofuel Waiver Bids in Next Month (Hellenic Shipping News)

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: WHEELER VISITS PHILLY REFINERY:Andrew Wheeler heads to the Philadelphia area today, alongside Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. Toomey and the EPA chief will visit the Monroe Energy refinery, where they will speak to workers and talk to the press — and where the Renewable Fuel Standard is likely to be a focus.

Toomey, for one, has long decried the federal mandate under the RFS requiring ethanol to be added into gasoline, citing the high costs it imposes on refiners like Monroe. On Friday, Toomey and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced the Restore Environmental Sustainability to Our Renewable Energy Act to repeal the corn ethanol mandate under the RFS.

Keep in mind, Philadelphia's other large refinery — Philadelphia Energy Solutions — announced last month it would permanently close in the wake of a massive explosion, and has since filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: WHEELER TOUTS DEREGULATION: EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler touted his agency's deregulatory action during remarks before refiners Monday at the Philadelphia-area Monroe Energy, NBC 10 reports . "Under President Trump, we have finalized 41 deregulatory actions, saving Americans more than $3.5 billion over the last 2 and a half years," Wheeler said, according to NBC 10. "We have 47 additional actions projected to save billions more." Reuters also reports that Wheeler told reporters the agency plans to weigh in soon on 2018 petitions to obtain small refinery waivers under the Renewable Fuel Standard. "We're going through them," he told reporters. "We hope to be processing them and making decisions in the next few weeks and month at the most." READ MORE

Excerpt from NBC Philadelphia: U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, brought Wheeler to southeastern Pennsylvania and Monroe Energy, a subsidiary of Delta Airlines. Monroe refines oil into jet fuel at a facility in Marcus Hook.

...

"We recognize that refiners have already spent billions of dollars to reduce omissions and improve air quality," Wheeler said. "Rather than impose top down mandates from Washington, we want to work with you to improve environmental protections in a way that doesn’t jeopardize this historic economic growth we’re seeing."

...

"I want to say that again because the media never covers that. Since 1970, the six criteria air pollutants have declined by 74 percent," he reiterated. "We have cleaner air today than we ever had in the last 49 years."

That is consistent with EPA findings, according to an official with the Union of Concerned Scientists, but there is an irony in Wheeler's appreciation for the decline.

"That decline is due to regulation," Elliott Negin of the UCS said in an interview. "By the way, that’s because these polluting industries had to clean up their act: adding scrubbers and filters to their facilities. The reason why that’s true is because of regulations. These industries weren’t going to do that out of the kindness of their hearts."

...

"The benefits of the regulations far outweigh the costs to industry," Negin, with the scientist advocacy group, said. "That includes the health and less costs in avoided hospital visits, asthma attacks, heart attacks and avoided premature deaths."

...

The Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in South Philadelphia exploded June 21, and has been closed since then. The facility has employed hundreds for nearly a century, but also been the city's largest polluter for decades.

PES filed for bankruptcy and is likely to sell off the refinery. Some politicians, which apparently includes Toomey, are holding out hope that the refinery can be saved in order to save the existing jobs. Toomey, in particular, is targeting a federal renewable fuel standard that involves ethanol production. READ MORE