Top Trump adviser Carl Icahn pushed back against a liberal watchdog group Wednesday for accusing him of potentially illegal lobbying activities aimed at the Environmental Protection Agency’s ethanol mandate.
Icahn scolded Public Citizen’s complaint as “fake news” and a “witch hunt” in an op-ed published Wednesday afternoon, after the group asked Congress to launch investigations into whether Icahn violated lobbying laws.
“Public Citizen’s assertion that I should be required to register as a lobbyist is another gross misstatement of the facts which is similar to much of the ‘fake news’ that is unfortunately so prevalent today,” Icahn wrote in an op-ed.
“I have vetted my activities with a number of lawyers and it is clear that no registration is required,” Icahn said.
Public Citizen, a group founded by former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, asked Congress on Wednesday to investigate whether Icahn is a registered lobbyist after reports last week that he had been shopping around a draft proposal to significantly change the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard to the benefit of refiners he represents.
“A more worthwhile investigation would seek to uncover the dark forces behind this witch hunt, which is perhaps being financed either by those seeking to smear President Donald Trump, and anyone associated with him, or those seeking to obfuscate the real issue at hand — the continuing economic devastation being wrought by the Environmental Protection Agency’s corrupt Renewable Identification Numbers (RIN) trading program,” Icahn wrote.
Public Citizen fired back calling him “thin-skinned Carl,” explaining that Icahn needs to understand two issues. “First, there are no mysterious ‘dark forces’ at work here. … We alone initiated the request for an investigation into Icahn’s advocacy on the ethanol policy,” the group said in a statement.
“Second, there’s no ‘witch hunt.’ We are requesting an investigation because Icahn and his companies have not registered as lobbyists, and based on extensive news reporting, it seems likely that one or both were required to do so under the Lobbying Disclosure Act,” it added. “We don’t know if there was a violation, but we know enough to ask for an investigation.”
Public Citizen’s complaint says that Icahn Enterprises, refiner CVR Energy and affiliates “appear to be in violation” of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. It said there is “no record of either entities’ past or current compliance” with the law’s requirements, according to Public Citizen. The law requires that all lobbyists register with Congress to represent a group or groups in federal proceedings.
The complaint was filed after reports that Icahn was shopping a potential executive order to the ethanol industry to gain its support for making a major change to the biofuel program that many groups believe would raise fuel cost for consumers.
The White House later said the draft was not an official document and that the president was not considering signing it. The proposal would have put gas stations and convenience stores on the hook for complying with the Renewable Fuel Standard instead of large refiners.
The refineries that Icahn has a financial interest in want EPA to make the change so they don’t have to buy thousands of RIN credits to comply with the ethanol blending mandate.
The RFS requires that refiners blend an ever-increasing amount of corn-based ethanol and other biofuels into the nation’s gasoline and diesel supplies. But some refiners, like CVR, don’t have the same means to blend what they make into the nation’s fuel supply as other refineries do and want to be freed from the obligation.
Icahn said he is not fighting the RFS, but is working for changes that would benefit mom-and-pop gas stations around the country, many of which are owned by minority business owners.
“While we are not fighting the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), I have for months and will continue to speak out against the misguided way in which the EPA has been administering the RFS as it pertains to the RINs trading program,” he wrote. “It allows large integrated oil companies and large gasoline retail convenience store chains (some foreign owned) to benefit from a massive windfall, making obscene profits by sucking the blood out of our nation’s independent merchant refiners and small “mom-and-pop” gas stations (many minority owned).
“Many of these minority owners have put their life savings into these gas stations and are rapidly losing them as a result of large retail chains using ill-gotten profits from RINs to engage in price wars with them and force them out of business,” he said.
“I view my current fight against this insane law as similar to those campaigns. I have been maligned many times in the press over the years fighting the establishment but I have never shied away from following my convictions,” he wrote. “I don’t intend to start now.”
