Pennsylvania Governor Requesting RFS Waiver

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has sent a letter to President Donald Trump seeking a waiver for his state from the Renewable Fuel Standard. The Democrat sent Trump the letter last Friday, just as the administration was announcing it would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to abandon proposals that Midwest Senators said would weaken the RFS. DTN reports that Wolf wrote to Trump, saying: “The merchant refiners of the Northeast are not able to acquire enough RIN credits to meet their RFS obligations because they have limited blending capacity. Because of that, Wolf said the refiners must purchase RINs on the secondary market, where prices have increased significantly. If those refiners close, Wolf alleges that the refiners in the U.S. golf would have to increase capacity, and the move would lead to price spikes. However, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen said that studies have shown merchant refiners recover the costs of RINs at the wholesale level. Also, he says there has been little evidence that RIN credit prices affect prices at the pump.