Governors' Biofuels Coalition

 The participants at a White House meeting Monday on the Renewable Fuel Standard know what happened, but hardly anyone else does. One ethanol source told ME that Trump had punted the issue to Congress, but a Growth Energy spokeswoman said, “Our understanding is that they will continue to explore options.” Reuters Jarrett Renshaw tweeted that Trump had decided to allow another three months for discussions. Growth, an ethanol trade association, put out a statement saying, “We are encouraged that the White House continues to rebuff Senator [ Ted] Cruz‘s efforts to place a cap on RINs, which would destabilize the RFS and devastate struggling farm communities.”

So what now? If Trump has indeed decided not to decide – at least for a while – then all eyes turn to Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. John Shimkus who have been working on a draft legislation that would overhaul the RFS. The Senate has a world of work to do, from approving nominees to run the State Department and the CIA to funding the government in September, so it’s not clear how anything could get to the floor before – at the earliest – a lame-duck session after the November election.

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