AGRICULTURE/GOP/OIL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump is caught between two powerful business constituents of the Republican Party as he faces growing pressure to resolve a dispute between the oil industry and the Farm Belt. Oil refineries want out of a costly requirement to blend ethanol into the gasoline they produce. Corn growers say the requirement diversifies the U.S. fuel supply, and insist Mr. Trump fulfill promises to at least hold the ethanol mandate. Both sides have close ties to the GOP and the White House. Tensions between the two industries have been building since well before Mr. Trump became president, the result of a 2005 law that requires refineries to blend about 10% plant-based ethanol into the fuel they produce, or buy credits from rivals to cover their blending obligations. Congress created the mandate in hopes of reducing carbon emissions and weaning the U.S. from foreign crude at a time when oil prices had begun soaring. By the time Mr. Trump took office, though, oil and gas supplies had gone from shortage to saturation thanks to the shale-drilling boom. Now, oil refiners—and some Trump advisers—consider a rollback of the 2005 regulation years overdue. That leaves Mr. Trump stuck between conflicting promises to cut government regulation and to support ethanol mandates.”
–Timothy Puko and Bradley Olson, “Trump Faces Pressure to Choose Sides in Fight Between Corn Growers and Oil Refiners,” The Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2018 5:30 am