A big disagreement over a very small piece of U.S. energy policy is tripping up President Donald Trump’s pledge to save farmers from an economic slump.
Lawmakers negotiating a deal to put more corn-based ethanol into the nation’s fuel supply have wrangled for weeks over a sticking point in the renewable fuel standard: If EPA lets a refinery out of its biofuel-blending obligations for a year, should other refineries have to make up for the volume that was exempted?
Ethanol producers, farmers and their allies in Congress say, “Yes.” Small and midsize refinery operators say, “No.” And some of the nation’s biggest petroleum companies are somewhere in the middle as the issue complicates efforts to make E15 fuel — which is cheaper at the pump but could keep corn prices for farmers a little higher — available year-round.
Lawmakers involved in the discussions declined to comment on specific proposals and said House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) office is reviewing proposed legislative language crafted by a Republican rural energy council he created weeks ago to come up with a compromise.
