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EPA Says It Won't Cut Biofuel Quotas After Corn States Push Back

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday October 25 2017, @05:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the add-your-own-butter-and-salt dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyGuest31999

In an October 19 letter to corn-belt lawmakers, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt said that he won't seek any rollback to biofuel blending rules, according to Reuters.

The agency had been considering some changes to rules set by the Obama administration that ratchet up the amount of renewable biofuel that refineries must blend into the gas and diesel they sell. According to Bloomberg, the EPA had specifically been considering "a possible reduction in biodiesel requirements" as well as "a proposal to allow exported renewable fuel to count toward domestic quotas." In early October, the EPA asked for public comment on cutting biodiesel quotas.

The Bloomberg story cited unnamed sources who said President Trump personally directed Pruitt to back off any proposals that would relax biofuel quotas after pressure from lawmakers from corn-producing states like Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois. Trump, who courted both fossil fuel interests and corn-belt states in his campaign, has had pressure from each side on this debate. Uncertainty surrounding the future of biofuel use during Trump's administration has caused volatility in biofuels markets for months, Reuters notes.

(The Bloomberg story also cites one unnamed "top EPA official" who said that Trump's directive to Pruitt didn't matter because Pruitt wasn't going to alter renewable fuel standards anyway.)

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/10/epa-says-it-wont-cut-biofuel-quotas-after-corn-states-push-back/

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by NewNic on Wednesday October 25 2017, @08:10PM

    by NewNic (6420) on Wednesday October 25 2017, @08:10PM (#587530) Journal

    It was always about stretching gas supplies and having domestic alternatives, and reducing refinery work loads.

    Ethanol has never been anything but a giant subsidy to certain farming interests. It doesn't reduce the need for oil significantly (growing corn for ethanol is ridiculously inefficient and uses massive amounts of fossil fuels to make fertilizer and power farm machinery).

    Corn is grown to produce ethanol mostly in states where their votes have an outsize influence on the electoral college.

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    lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
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