Ethanol waivers given to refiners
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is granting 31 refineries waivers from a federal mandate that they blend ethanol into the nation’s fuel supply, the agency said Friday.
An announcement on the waivers was expected months ago and comes as President Donald Trump remains under political pressure from Midwestern farmers, whose corn crops feed the nation’s growing ethanol demand.
Exemptions “provide a critical safety valve for the country’s most vulnerable refineries,” the Fueling American Jobs Coalition, which represents refineries, their workers and gasoline stations, said in a statement Friday. “President Trump and his administration have devoted both time and effort to finding common-sense (ethanol) policy solutions that protect all stakeholders.”
The debate over ethanol has put Trump between two of his key supporters, the oil and gas and agriculture industries. Oil interests
“(The) granting of the additional small refinery exemptions are ridiculous.”
Curt Mether, president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association
oppose ethanol mandates because it cuts into demand for their products. Agriculture interests have pressed for higher ethanol blending requirements to increase demand for their crops.
This year, Trump elected to lift air pollution laws restricting the year-round sale of gasoline with a higher concentration of ethanol — known as E15 — despite objections from oil and gas groups. E15 fuels have 15 percent ethanol, compared with the typical 10 percent.
While the move to lift the E15 restrictions brought cheers from farmers, the administration continued to take heat for its waiver program, which exempts smaller refineries from ethanol blending requirements if they can prove this would cause them financial distress.
On Friday, Curt Mether, president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, said in a tweet that the “granting of the additional small refinery exemptions are ridiculous and a slap in the face to farmers.”
The EPA said Friday that it had denied six applications for ethanol waivers and planned to look at loosening regulations on other fuels, including natural gas and E85, a form of gasoline with an 85 percent concentration of ethanol.
“EPA welcomes the opportunity to engage with stakeholders to explore deregulatory options in the coming months to ensure that it plays its part in supporting American farmers and consumers,” an EPA spokesman said in an email.