ENERGY [ALT]/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump urged representatives from the rival oil and corn industries on Thursday [3-1-18] to break a deadlock in talks over the future of the nation’s biofuels policy by accepting a deal involving reforms sought by both sides.
Trump has arranged a series of talks between Big Corn and Big Oil since late last year amid rising concern in the White House over the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a law requiring refiners to mix biofuels such as corn-based ethanol into their fuel. The decade-old policy was intended to help farmers and reduce petroleum imports but has increasingly divided farmers and energy companies – two of Trump’s most important constituencies. Refining company Philadelphia Energy Solutions LLC in the key electoral state of Pennsylvania in January blamed the RFS for its bankruptcy.
A source who attended Thursday’s meeting at the White House said Trump told the gathering of lawmakers and corporate executives that he supports a proposal from the refining industry to cap the price of biofuels blending credits that refiners must acquire to comply with the RFS.”
-Jarrett Renshaw, “Trump pushes Big Corn and Big Oil to break biofuels deadlock,” Reuters, Feb. 28, 2018 10:03pm