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[Tovarisc]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has backed off a series of proposed changes to the nation’s biofuels policy after a massive backlash from corn-state lawmakers worried the moves would undercut ethanol demand, according to a letter from the agency to lawmakers seen by Reuters.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in the letter dated Oct. 19 that the agency will keep renewable fuel volume mandates for next year at or above proposed levels, reversing a previous move to open the door to cuts.

The move marks a big win for the biofuels industry and lawmakers from corn-states like Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, while dealing a blow to merchant refiners like PBF Energy Inc and Valero Energy Corp who hoped the administration of President Donald Trump would help provide regulatory relief.

The White House issued a statement hours after the Pruitt letter was delivered to lawmakers expressing the president’s support for maintaining the renewable fuel plan.

“President Donald J. Trump promised rural America that he would protect the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), and has never wavered from that promise,” the White House statement said.

Pruitt said the EPA would not pursue another idea floated by EPA leadership that would have allowed exported ethanol to be counted toward those volume quotas.

Pruitt also said the EPA did not believe a proposal to shift the biofuels blending obligation away from refiners was appropriate. That plan is backed by representatives of a handful of independent refining companies who have warned the cost of the program will bankrupt plants and cost thousands of jobs.

Those ideas would have eased the burden on some in the refining industry, who have argued that biofuels compete with petroleum, and that the blending responsibility costs them hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

But Midwestern lawmakers, including Republicans Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst, had vocally opposed all those ideas, calling them a betrayal of the administration’s promises to support the corn belt. They were concerned the moves would undercut domestic demand for ethanol, a key industry in the region that has supported corn growers.

“It’s a great day for Iowa and a great day for rural America. Administrator Pruitt should be commended for following through on President Trump’s commitment to biofuels,” Grassley said in a statement.

In the letter, Pruitt said the EPA was prepared to work with Congress to examine the possibility of a waiver that would allow the sale of E15 gasoline, containing 15 percent ethanol, year-round - something currently not permitted during the summer due to concerns about smog.

The program disproportionately hurts mid-sized refiners and mom-and-pop gas stations that are the backbone of the nation’s energy infrastructure and needs to reformed, said Greg Blair, a spokesman for the Fueling American Jobs Coalition, a group of merchant refiners formed to seek changes in the program.

“If the administration follows the course set out in Administrator Pruitt’s letter, manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania, Ohio and other states – jobs President Trump promised to protect – will be at risk,” Blair said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...2e2a&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

 

[inner-G]

If they stop using as much corn for ethanol it'll really hit farmers in the pockets.

Prices have been up over the last several years because of the demand