White House Plans Biofuel Quota Boost to Offset Refinery Waivers
- Tentative agreement reached in meeting with senators Thursday
- Waived quotas could be reallocated beginning in 2020
A tanker truck sits outside an ethanol biorefinery in Gowrie, Iowa.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
President Donald Trump has tentatively agreed to a plan for bolstering ethanol and biodiesel, amid pressure from Midwest U.S. senators who warned that without action he risks votes in next year’s election.
The blueprint discussed in a Wednesday meeting at the White House calls for the administration to begin offsetting Environmental Protection Agency exemptions waiving some oil refineries from annual blending requirements starting in 2020. That comes on top of other concessions that administration officials had already developed with the aim of encouraging greater U.S. demand for ethanol made from corn.