Governors' Biofuels Coalition

Republican John Barrasso of Wyoming, the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, warned President Trump on Tuesday not to move forward with proposed fixes to the Renewable Fuel Standard, saying that the changes would constitute favoritism and “risk closing refineries and killing thousands of jobs.”

Trump is expected soon to increase federal mandates for production of corn-based ethanol and biodiesel in order to quell complaints from farmers about the administration’s policy of exempting some small oil refineries from RFS requirements to blend billions of gallons of corn ethanol into gasoline.

The president is expected to keep the exemptions in place for refiners while slightly increasing biofuel-blending quotas.

Corn farmers and their representatives in Congress have accused EPA of excessive use of the refinery exemptions, which they argue are eroding the market for ethanol.

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