U.S. Sen. Tina Smith Says EPA Plan to Hide Which Refineries Are Allowed to Stop Blending Renewable Fuels Would Hurt Farmers, Rural Communities

May 03, 2019

Print This Article Share it With Friends

(Office of Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said today the Trump Administration’s plan to go back on its promise to name which U.S. oil refineries are allowed to avoid requirements to blend renewable fuels into the nation’s fuel supply could ultimately contribute to job losses across rural America and strike another blow to the nation’s struggling farm economy.

Sen. Smith, who has been an outspoken advocate to expand the use of renewable fuels, said hiding the identity of refineries that receive special Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waivers to the nation’s biofuels laws will help big oil companies at the expense of the nation’s renewable industry. The waivers cut the amount of corn-based ethanol and other renewables that is blended into the nation’s gasoline and diesel supply, reducing demand for agriculture products at a time when farmers have already been hit hard by low farm prices and trade disruptions.

“The EPA promised to increase transparency and publish the names of refineries that get exemptions from our nation’s renewable fuels laws. Now it’s abandoning that promise,” said Sen. Smith. “The transparency is necessary because last year EPA granted a ‘financial hardship’ waiver to an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, saving him tens of millions of dollars. Such waivers have also gone to refineries owned by profitable oil companies like Exxon-Mobil and Chevron. In 2018, the waivers cut demand for ethanol by more than a billion gallons, according to the Minnesota Biofuels Association. That’s just wrong and it’s hurting Minnesota’s economy.”

Sen. Smith said the EPA’s plan to be more transparent was eliminated after the White House and the oil industry pushed to end it. She said she also remains skeptical of a reported White House-brokered “compromise plan” between the oil industry and corn industry.

“I’ll be watching to ensure that any compromise coming out of the Administration does not further hurt Minnesota’s ethanol and renewable fuels industry,” she said. READ MORE

EPA Signals No Timeline for Decisions On RFS Exemption Requests (DTN Progressive Farmer)

Smith Claims Trump Refinery Exemptions Hurt Minnesota Renewable Fuel Industry (KXRA's Voice of Alexandria)

EPA Eyeing Partial Exemptions Under RFS (National Association of Convenience Stores)

EPA SUSPENDS PLAN TO REVEAL OIL REFINERIES THAT RECEIVED RFS WAIVERS (Brownfield Ag News)

EPA EYES NEW ETHANOL WAIVERS: (Politico's Morning Agriculture)

United States - EPA stalls biofuel waiver transparency plan after White House blowback (Agra Net)

Representatives urge EPA to stop issuing SREs (Ethanol Producer Magazine)