Executives for major oil refiners urged President Donald Trump not to move forward with proposed changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program meant to boost biofuel usage.
The biofuel moves are meant to compensate for the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) granting of small refinery exemptions (SREs). Trump is expected to boost federal mandates for production of corn-based ethanol and biodiesel in response to complaints from farmers about the administration’s policy of issuing a growing number of the refinery waivers.
"The fixes that are being suggested by the Department of Agriculture and the biofuels community that would raise the conventional biofuel mandate will do nothing to increase domestic ethanol usage, but will only give incentives for more imported biodiesel," said CEOs Joseph Gorder of Valero, Gary Heminger of Marathon and Jeff Ramsey of Flint Hills Resources, in a letter to President Donald Trump.
The companies led by the three chief executives produce nearly one fifth of U.S. ethanol.
The refiners also pushed back on the suggestion that ethanol demand has been undermined by EPA waivers exempting some small refineries from biofuel-blending requirements, saying the notion is "simply untrue."
Oil industry groups may file lawsuits to stop the policy changes under discussion at the White House if they cannot persuade Trump to abandon the plans, said American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) President and CEO Chet Thompson. "It’s never over until it’s over with this administration," Thompson remarked. He argued the administration cannot "unilaterally" move forward with the changes now under consideration and said the industry will fight them through EPA's rulemaking process and in court if necessary. Trump is expected to announce the biofuel package next week in the Midwest.
Thompson and American Petroleum Institute (API) President and CEO Mike Sommers also penned a joint letter to President Trump urging him not to move forward with the changes and disputing claims from biofuel proponents that SREs are causing demand destruction for ethanol.
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