The granting of 31 small refinery exemptions (SREs) for the 2018 compliance year are negatively impacting U.S. corn farmers, according to leaders of corn grower associations from 23 states in a letter to President Donald Trump.
“The 31 new Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) waivers to big oil companies, recently approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and bringing total waivers issued under your Administration to 85, could not have come at a worse time for agriculture,” the presidents wrote. “Ethanol plants in several states, including Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota and Mississippi have closed or idled. These closures have cost 2,700 rural jobs and impacted demand for more than 300 million bushels of corn. Corn farmers are beginning harvest and continuing to lose markets to deliver their corn. Frustration in the countryside is growing.”
The officials said they are not “asking for a special deal,” but rather they want “EPA to uphold the law.”
While thanking Trump for pushing ahead with year-round sales of E15, the officials said, “but EPA’s current use of waivers undermines growth potential for higher blends of ethanol, reduces demand, lowers the value of our crop, and puts the outlook for the rural economy in jeopardy.”
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