Trump's EPA grants 31 small refinery waivers from biofuel laws, angering corn lobby
Source: Reuters
U.S. LEGAL NEWS AUGUST 9, 2019 / 4:22 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
Trump's EPA grants 31 small refinery waivers from biofuel laws, angering corn lobby
Humeyra Pamuk, Jarrett Renshaw
4 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted 31 small refinery biofuel waivers for 2018 on Friday, infuriating the ethanol and corn producers who blamed the Trump administration for bailing out the oil industry when U.S. farmers were suffering due to trade tariffs and low prices.
The waivers from the country’s biofuel laws were fewer than previous year’s and marked an increase in the number of petitions rejected, but the EPA’s decision was still unlikely to satisfy the powerful U.S. corn lobby which wants a broad retrenchment of the biofuel waiver program it blames for undercutting ethanol demand.
“At a time when ethanol plants in the Heartland are being mothballed and jobs are being lost, it is unfathomable and utterly reprehensible that the Trump administration would dole out more unwarranted waivers to prosperous petroleum refiners,” said RFA President and Chief Executive Geoff Cooper said in a statement.
Small Refinery Exemptions are available to small U.S. refineries that can prove they are in financial strife, and the waivers free them from their obligation under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to blend biofuels like ethanol into their gasoline or purchase credits from others that do.
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-ethanol-epa/trumps-epa-grants-31-small-refinery-waivers-from-biofuel-laws-angering-corn-lobby-idUSKCN1UZ2AV
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the fate of the next election (and thereby the US, the world, and the fate of humanity, yadda yadda).
If you add this to China ceasing all US farm commodity purchases due to this last round of sanctions/currency manipulation actions... ouchie! 
But will there be any effect on the rural vote? 