Thirty-five U.S. lawmakers are urging the EPA to stop exempting refineries from federal biofuel mandates, calling the practice “a betrayal of our rural communities” that threatens the U.S. agricultural sector.
A letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler from a bipartisan group of mostly Midwestern lawmakers comes as the agency nears decisions on 40 refinery applications for exemptions from 2018 biofuel blending mandates.
Lawmakers, led by Reps. Cindy Axne ( D-Iowa), and Adrian Smith (R-Neb.), said continued exemptions—without EPA requiring other refineries to make up the difference—effectively lower annual blending targets “contrary to the letter and intent of the law.”
Federal ...