It was far from certain as of May 15 what the Trump administration specifically would do to address renewable fuel quota problems, which led to a much-ballyhooed White House meeting a week earlier. The continuing pure politics of the situation were blindingly obvious, however.
Start with the 17 US senators from Great Plains and Midwestern states who pressed US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator E. Scott Pruitt on Apr. 30 for a timeline to implement a Reid Vapor Pressure waiver, which would allow year-round sales of gasoline with a 15% ethanol blend.
The nine Republicans and eight Democrats from Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin also asked Pruitt to authorize E15 sales during the upcoming summer driving season in the meantime.
“Congress never intended the RVP waiver to effectively be a market cap on the amount of ethanol blended in gasoline. Rather, this provision was intended to provide a pathway for ethanol to grow and thrive in the fuel marketplace when it was passed in 1990,” they argued in their Apr. 30 letter.
“The current interpretation is outdated and has created an untenable regulatory barrier to E15 as a readily available option for motorists,” the lawmakers said.
It was not certain as the White House meeting was held if this attempt to apply a full-court press on Pruitt and EPA succeeded. The meeting reportedly produced a commitment to allow ethanol exports to be counted as Renewable Identification Numbers, which supposedly would put downward pressure on RIN prices, as well as a promise to authorize year-round E15 sales.
Neither the American Petroleum Institute nor the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers were invited. The meeting was limited to policymakers, a representative from one of those trade associations told OGJ on May 11.
Post-meeting comments
Comments from some who attended the White House meeting varied dramatically immediately afterward. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) called the reported proposals “a win-win for both corn farmers and blue-collar refinery workers.”
Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) was less certain. The proposal to count ethanol exports as RINs, which he said are devastating to Pennsylvania refiners, might result in lower prices for the renewable fuel credits, “but even that is not clear until details are established.”
Some corn ethanol advocates, meanwhile, have criticized EPA for exempting some small refineries from renewable fuel quotas under a hardship provision because the plants are owned by major refiners. “I will oppose any agreement that would make it more difficult for small refineries to obtain hardship relief in the future,” Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John A. Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said on May 10.
