Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa says small refinery waivers are being granted to refineries facing little or no “hardship.”
The waivers, approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, exempt refiners from Renewable Fuel Standard regulations due to economic hardship.
However, Grassley says the waivers are being issued to large refineries. Grassley also points out that the Energy Department in at least one occasion recommended no exemption, yet the EPA granted the waiver.
The Energy Department says it has not changed how analyses are applied or scored from the prior administration. Still, the number of small refinery waivers issued by EPA has skyrocketed the last two years.
Grassley says Trump “delivered on E15,” but says the EPA is “undermining the president’s commitment” to farmers.
Grassley is calling on the White House to “put an end to these handouts to big oil.”
The National Corn Growers Association says the waivers have reduced the RFS by 2.6 billion gallons, and called on the President to end the waivers last week.