The Environmental Protection Agency says it will decide soon on the 2018 petitions for small refinery waivers from the Renewable Fuels Standard blending obligations. Administrator Andrew Wheeler says they hope to get through the petitions in the next few weeks. Wheeler visited the Monroe Energy Oil Refinery in Pennsylvania on Monday, telling reporters that, ?We?re going through them. We hope to be processing them in the next few weeks and month at the most.?
President Trump recently ordered a review of the waiver program, which has been a serious bone of contention between the ethanol and oil industries for some time. Sources in both the oil and biofuel industries says the waiver decisions were nearly complete before President Trump demanded a review of the program. Both the EPA and the USDA are working to come up with a solution to the problem. The sources also say that the Department of Energy has already provided its scoring results last April on the 40 outstanding 2018 petitions. Trump, looking at possible reelection next year, has struggled to find a balance between oil refiners and corn growers since taking office.
