Trump Orders Biofuel Boost in Bid to Temper Farm State Anger

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August 26, 2019

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by Jennifer A Dlouhy and Mario Parker (Bloomberg) 2021 quotas will jump to make up for oil refinery exemptions; Move could alienate Rust Belt refinery workers in Pennsylvania -- President Donald Trump, seeking to tamp down political fallout in U.S. farm states essential to his re-election, has ordered federal agencies to shift course on relieving some oil refineries of requirements to use biofuel such as corn-based ethanol.

Trump and top cabinet leaders decided late Thursday they wouldn’t make changes to just-issued waivers that allow small refineries to ignore the mandates, but agreed to start boosting biofuel-blending quotas to make up for expected exemptions beginning in 2021. The outcome was described by four people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named before a formal announcement could be made.

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But the administration’s shift risks blowback in Pennsylvania and other battleground states, where blue-collar refinery workers have held rallies to push for relief from U.S. biofuel quotas they say are too expensive. The largest coalition of U.S. building trades unions on Thursday warned Trump that changing course on exemptions would betray the president’s “campaign promise to protect every manufacturing job.”

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Administration officials agreed to the broad contours of a renewable fuel plan, including further moves to encourage the use of E15 gasoline containing 15% ethanol, beyond the 10% variety common across the U.S. E15 could be dispensed alongside conventional ethanol blends at filling stations, under the drafted changes.

Under the tentative plan, the Environmental Protection Agency also will give a 500-million-gallon boost to the amount of conventional renewable fuel, such as ethanol, that must be used in 2020. A separate quota for biodiesel, typically made from soybeans, would get a 250-million-gallon increase.

Additionally, the administration will enhance a program meant to expand U.S. fueling infrastructure and get more ethanol into the system. The EPA will adopt an Agriculture Department assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with renewable fuel, and will expand environmental credits encouraging automakers to produce “flex-fuel” vehicles that can run on high-ethanol gasoline.

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Trump’s Democratic challengers have seized on the issue, with front-runner Joe Biden accusing the president of lying to farmers and abandoning a campaign promise to “unleash ethanol.”

However, EPA officials and oil industry leaders say the waivers haven’t harmed domestic ethanol demand and blame a glut of the product for suppressing prices. Trump’s trade war with China has exacerbated the industry’s economic challenges. As with U.S.-grown agricultural products, including soybeans, ethanol faces retaliatory tariffs in China.

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Although the tentative plan was meant to assuage biofuel allies, it’s not clear it was having the intended effect Friday, amid industry skepticism the EPA would follow through on the agreement.

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“With a level playing field in biodiesel trade in 2018, domestic producers increased output by several hundred million gallons,” said National Biodiesel Board spokesman Paul Winters. “We can continue to do so — as long as EPA stops using RFS waivers to destroy demand and put biodiesel producers out of business.” READ MORE

Trump orders biofuel boost in bid to temper farm state anger (Los Angeles Times)

Trump administration expected to boost biofuel quotas, in dispute between farmers and refineries (Washington Post)

Trump administration considers boost to biofuel mandates to ease farmer anger: sources (Reuters)

Ethanol Blog: Email Shows Perdue Pressing Trump for Biofuels Policy Changes (DTN Progressive Farmer)

Leaked memo: Trump admin mulls effort to boost ethanol (E&E News)

Farmers’ Frustration With Trump Grows as U.S. Escalates China Fight (New York Times)

Trump is lying in farmers’ faces, and they’re finally getting angry about it (Washington Post; includes VIDEO)

Biofuel credit surplus could blunt RIN price impact from Trump moves -sources (CNBC/Reuters)

Growth Energy and Biofuels Producers Call for Action at the White House (Growth Energy)

Trump’s Ethanol Promises Come Duev-- Ethanol companies benefit from fight that pits the Corn Belt against oil, but benefits have limits (Wall Street Journal)

President Trump, uphold your commitment to Renewable Fuel Standards (High Plains Journal)

Peterson is a strong farmer advocate in war on ethanol (Daily Journal)

EPA Policies Hurts Ethanol Industry and Chinese Trade War kills Lobster Exports (The Intellectualist)

Growth Energy members urge Trump to reallocate lost SRE volumes (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

Trump to offer plan to mitigate waiver impact: plans trip to farm country (Biofuels Digest)

Trump forced to act on biofuels policies after growing pressure from farmers (Biofuels International)

Farmers’ loyalty to Trump tested over new corn-ethanol rules (Associated Press)

Midwest farmers' Trump loyalty tested by new corn-ethanol rules (Fox News)

Trump to announce plan to boost biofuel demand soon: U.S. agriculture secretary (Reuters)

Trump Seeks Biofuels Plan: President Expected to Soon Announce Strategy to Offset Sting of EPA Biofuel Exemptions (DTN Progressive Farmer)

PERDUE SAYS FARMER SUPPORT FOR TRUMP POLICIES ISN’T WANING (Brownfield Ag News)

American Farm Groups Press Trump for Earlier Ethanol Boost (Bloomberg)

'Stressful times in the Midwest': Farmers losing patience with Trump over China trade war (Washington Times)

Trump says farmers will be 'so happy' with new plan to boost ethanol (Washington Times)

Trump promises ethanol-related 'giant package' to please farmers (Reuters)

Farmers press for earlier ethanol boost (Bloomberg/Arkansas Online)

President Trump to Announce New Biofuel Policy Soon (Wiscosin Ag Net)

Trump tweets ethanol changes coming (Houston Chronicle)

Perdue stays tough on China, indicates ethanol industry to get good news (State Journal-Register)

More ethanol plant shutdowns could be in future (Brownfield Ag News/Norfolk Daily News)

Excerpt from Washington Post: As the (New York) Times puts it, “farmers are beginning to panic.”

What seems notable is that farmers’ representatives are growing angry about what Trump is telling them about all this. Trump frequently makes such claims as “farmers are starting to do great again.”

That’s a lie. But don’t take my word for it. The New York Times reports that the head of a major farm group forcefully challenged that claim at a recent gathering with Trump’s agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue:

“We’re not starting to do great again,” Brian Thalmann, the president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, told Mr. Perdue at the event. “Things are going downhill and downhill quickly.”

This anger has been echoed by rank-and-file farmers, too. Even worse, Perdue tried to make a joke about farmers’ travails, but it backfired:

“What do you call two farmers in a basement?” Mr. Perdue asked near the end of a testy hourlong town-hall-style event. “A whine cellar.”

A cascade of boos ricocheted around the room.

Let’s stipulate up front that there is likely zero chance that farmers — or rural voters — break with Trump in 2020. Still, this illustrates the limits on Trump’s lying powers: If they stick with Trump, it isn’t because he mesmerized them into ignoring reality; it’s that they still see other reasons for sticking with him. Those are likely rooted in partisanship more than anything else; farmers are overwhelmingly Republican voters.

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As I’ve noted, serious political theorists such as Jacob Levy and Jack Balkin have demonstrated that Trump’s lying has crossed over into a form of autocratic disinformation and propaganda that is deliberately designed to render shared agreement on facts and reasoned deliberation impossible.

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But Trump also seems to have zero fear that gaslighting his own constituencies might cost him politically. Why?

One possible answer: Fox News. According to indefatigable Fox tracker Matthew Gertz, as of Tuesday morning Fox hadn’t said anything about the report of farmers getting angry at Trump’s agriculture secretary for accusing them of “whining,” but it did feature a farmer who pledged his undying “trust” in Trump’s handling of the trade war.

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It probably won’t be a big story that Trump’s agriculture secretary got booed by farmers for being dismissive of their travails — or that some farmers’ reps don’t like it when Trump lies about their difficulties. READ MORE

Excerpt from Washington Times: President Trump said Thursday he’s preparing to announce a “giant package” to boost demand for ethanol, responding to rising concerns in rural America about the administration’s exemptions for refineries from blending biofuels.

“The Farmers are going to be so happy when they see what we are doing for Ethanol, not even including the E-15, year around, which is already done,” the president tweeted. “It will be a giant package, get ready! At the same time I was able to save the small refineries from certain closing. Great for all!” READ MORE