The White House has scheduled a Monday meeting with the EPA, the Agriculture Department, and the National Economic Council to deal with another point of criticism being leveled at Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt — adherence to the renewable fuel standard’s ethanol mandate.
The meeting follows criticism and threatened litigation from the ethanol industry over a secret agreement between refinery giant Andeavor and the EPA to waive a requirement that they blend ethanol in gasoline for three of the company’s smallest refineries.
The ethanol industry claimed foul last week and doesn’t want Pruitt to grant any other companies similar waivers, as that would contradict Trump’s support for corn farmers and rural America. The Renewable Fuels Association argues that EPA is misinterpreting the law in granting “hardship waivers” to certain small refineries under the agency’s renewable fuel program.
Critics say the waivers were not contemplated for companies like Andeavor that earned $1.5 billion in profits last year.
Sources tracking the meeting say the Andeavor decision is not part of the president’s separate search for a solution that would resolve cost complaints from merchant refiners, while still supporting Trump’s promise to defend the ethanol mandate. Trump wants a deal that addresses a complaint among the refiners that the high cost of ethanol credits are harming their businesses, citing the recent bankruptcy filing by Philadelphia Energy Solution. The company argues that it was the hundreds of millions of dollars in ethanol credits that it was forced to buy to comply with the EPA program that drove it into bankruptcy.
One lobbyist tracking the meeting said Pruitt is expected to be at the meeting, along with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, but the White House would not confirm attendees. It is also not clear if Trump will be there, or if senior White House aides will be leading the meeting.
The ethanol meeting comes as federal agencies are expected to come together with Trump on Monday to sign an agreement on shortening environmental reviews and the permitting process for infrastructure projects.
The leaders of at least 12 agencies will sign the memorandum of understanding, which would implement an executive order signed by Trump in August.
Trump is expected to preside over a signing ceremony after a Cabinet meeting Monday. Signing the memo will be the departments of Energy, Interior, Transportation, Commerce and Homeland Security, the EPA, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Trump’s Aug. 15 executive order calls for “timely decisions” on projects with the goal of completing “environmental reviews and authorization decisions for major infrastructure projects within two years.”
Under the agreement implementing the order, federal agencies will have to conduct concurrent environmental reviews, rather than consecutive reviews, to speed up the process. The main agency with expertise will lead the permitting review process, setting timelines for the other agencies to follow.
