The Oil Industry and Environmentalists form an Odd Alliance against Trump on Ethanol

June 13, 2019

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by Emily Moon (Pacific Standard) It could be years before farmers see any gains from the rollback of E15 restrictions—or before oil interests and environmental groups see any losses. -- ... For ethanol's biggest opponents, the deregulation could usher in a whole host of plagues, including environmental hazards and falling oil profits. While E10—gas blended with 10 percent ethanol—is now widely used in the United States, the higher blend lowers a vehicle's fuel efficiency more than E10, and still has a large environmental footprint.

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Now that the biofuels industry is one step closer to expanding ethanol sales, an unlikely pair of opponents stands in its way.

First there's the oil industry, which has a vested interest in promoting blends with higher proportions of oil over other biofuels. The largest oil refiner group in the country filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals to block the Trump administration's rule just this week, claiming the EPA overstepped its authority in revoking the restrictions. "A waiver for E15 is unlawful, plain and simple," Chet Thompson, president and chief executive officer of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, said on Tuesday.

On this point of critique, the oil refiners align with environmental groups, which have made similar charges against E15 in the past. Jonathan Lewis, senior counsel for the environmental non-profit Clean Air Task Force, says the oil groups' comments filed in April echo conservationists' complaints. "Their interpretation of the relevant Clean Air Act provisions and why those provisions prohibit the EPA from taking this step were accurate," he says. Specifically, the environmental law exempts E10—and not E15—from its standard for Reid vapor pressure, a measure of how clean the fuel burns, and how much smog it creates. (Lewis says the question of whether environmental groups would sue was "still up in the air.")

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"Given that we're not likely to see an increase in E15 sales ... I think this is an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of farmers, more than anything," he (Aaron Smith, a professor of agriculture and resource economics at the University of California—Davis) says.

Until then, Trump will have to contend with opposition from the inside, as oil interests, generally seen to be friendly with the administration, ramp up their cases. "This has been the recent history of ethanol and renewable fuel policy in general," Smith says. "Whatever measures the administration tries to take, if it's unfavorable to the corn and ethanol side, they will sue. If it's perceived as unfavorable to the oil side, they will sue. At the very least, nothing happens." READ MORE

Year-Round Sales to Give E15 an Incremental Boost; Consumption projected to more than double in 2019 after rulemaking: RFA (CSP Daily News)

AFPM seeks court review of EPA’s year-round E15 authorization (Oil & Gas Journal)

AFPM STATEMENTS ON E15 RVP WAIVER AND RFS REFORM (American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers)

EPA Reforms Pit Oil and Green Lobby Against Corn Producers (NASDAQ)

TRUMP CANNOT ROB FROM THE WORKING CLASS TO ENRICH THE ETHANOL LOBBY | OPINION (Newsweek)

As Trump Touts Ethanol, Scientists Question the Fuel's Climate Claims (Inside Climate News)

Oil Industry And Environmentalists Tag Teaming Trump On Ethanol (Hot Air)