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The news: This week we reported that the Energy Information Administration says on August 9, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it had granted 31 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Small Refinery Exemptions (SRE) for the 2018 compliance year, or 4 fewer than were approved for the 2017 compliance year. As of October 2019, two SRE applications were pending. The SRE waivers effectively reduced the amount of biofuel required to enter the nation’s fuel supply by exempting 7.4% of the total RFS renewable fuel volume mandate for the 2018 compliance year, or about 1.43 billion gallons.
And Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says she is putting the pressure on the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to follow through with President Trump’s promises to make up for gallons lost from small refinery hardship waivers, but she is clear that if he doesn’t follow through then she is going to ask for the administrator’s resignation. Iowa’s governor says she is focusing her lobbying efforts on the EPA as well. The governor is the President’s campaign chair in Iowa and has often said she is sure he will live up to his promises on biofuels.
Why significant and what’s next: Tensions over enforcement of the Renewable Fuel Standard at the Exasperation Point for Farm-state Republicans.
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