Toomey meets with Trump to discuss aid for local refineries
As U.S. Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., met with President Donald Trump Tuesday to advocate on behalf of restrictions on refineries here, a Washington-based organization advocating for the elimination of the renewable fuel standard began a television campaign in Pennsylvania.
“It is unfortunate we have a still-broken system that forces Americans to consume volumes of ethanol well beyond the natural demand,” Toomey stated after Tuesday’s meeting. “The compliance device invented by the Environmental Protection Agency, Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), is devastating to Pennsylvania refineries. The proposal discussed at our White House meeting today might result in lower RIN prices, which would relieve this artificial burden — but even that is not clear until details are established.”
Costs for the RINs have dramatically increased and placed pressure on refinery expenses, adding to why Philadelphia Energy Solutions filed for bankruptcy. Since then, refinery employees and others have lobbied to reduce the pressure placed on these facilities by this requirement.
Toomey said there was some movement.
“I am pleased the president agreed to have new RINs generated from ethanol exports,” he wrote in a statement. “This should put downward pressure on RIN prices. However, the possible systemic reallocation of the RIN obligation from small to larger refineries could increase overall demand for RINs, which would force prices higher. These countervailing forces make it unclear whether, and to what extent, the strain on refiners would be alleviated.”
In the meantime, the American Energy Alliance released a commercial entitled “Enough is Enough” meant to encourage the repeal of the renewable fuel standard.
“I feel that the opposing camps are so far apart,” Thomas Pyle, president of the AEA, said about the ethanol and refinery camps. “Circumstances have changed so dramatically since the beginning of the program.”
While corn-based ethanol has its benefits, it also causes problems in such items like tractors and lawnmowers, Pyle said.
“Enough is enough,” he said. “It’s time for Washington to finally repeal the RFS, get government out of the business of picking winners and losers and let the free market move our energy economy forward.”
The commercial is also being aired in Delaware, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.