Since Donald Trump took office, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued 85 exemptions to oil refineries allowing them to stop blending ethanol into their fuel. The waivers have been given to some of the nation’s biggest oil corporations, including Chevron and Exxon. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Trump ally, ripped the administration over the waivers. “They screwed us when they issued 31 waivers compared to less than 10 waivers in all of the Obama years,” he says. “What’s bad isn’t the waiver, it’s that it’s being granted to people who really aren’t going through any hardship.”
During a recent conference call, Grassley says the administration is looking at “four-or-five things” to help make up for the damage inflicted on U.S. farmers by a large number of small-refinery waivers. Grassley says there is one thing above all others that matters to farmers. “We need the reallocation of every gallon that was waived by the EPA, getting them added back into the Renewable Fuels Standard requirement,” he said. “I welcome the administration’s admission that the EPA’s move was wrong and taking steps to try and right it.”