By Jarrett Renshaw
Aug 31 (Reuters) – The Trump administration is expected as early as Monday to approve an expanded volume of exemptions for U.S. oil refiners from biofuel blending requirements, according to two people familiar with the matter, as part of efforts to ease upward pressure on gas prices.
Farm-state lawmakers had pressed the White House not to expand the waivers above amounts flagged at the start of this year, although refiners have sought them as a means to lower fuel production costs. Farmers fear the waivers would reduce demand for their crops, while the two sides disagree on whether the expansion can actually cut gas prices significantly.
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to issue waivers for the latest year to a group of small refineries covering more than 1.8 billion renewable fuel credits, the sources said. Applicants for the waivers include facilities owned by oil giants Marathon Petroleum and Chevron.
That would be roughly double the number of credits the agency initially said it was planning for the year.
Following an intense lobbying effort by farm-belt lawmakers and their allies, the EPA is also considering a plan to offset the harm to farmers from the expanded exemptions by reopening the 2027 biofuel quotas and adding roughly 500 million renewable fuel credits, or potentially more, the sources said.
The EPA said earlier this month that it would make a decision on the pending exemption requests by the end of August, but the decision could slip to Tuesday, the sources told Reuters.
The White House referred questions on the latest waiver issuance to the EPA, which did not respond to requests for comment.
The expanded plan is part of a broader White House effort to manage gasoline prices that have surged during the U.S. conflict with Iran, according to the people familiar with the matter. The administration has been looking for ways to ease pressure at the pump but is keen to avoid a political backlash from farmers ahead of November’s congressional elections.
The decision puts President Donald Trump in the middle of a longstanding fight between the oil refining and biofuel industries over the nation’s Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol and other renewable fuels into gasoline and diesel.
Farm-state lawmakers have warned that broad exemptions could depress demand for crops and undermine the biofuel industry, while refiners argue that the mandates can impose steep costs when compliance credits are expensive.
The Renewable Fuel Standard, established by Congress, requires refiners and fuel importers to blend specified volumes of renewable fuels into the nation’s transportation fuel supply or purchase credits known as renewable identification numbers, or RINs.
Small refineries can seek exemptions from those requirements if complying would cause them disproportionate economic hardship. The EPA, which administers the program, has faced political pressure from both the refining and agricultural industries over how broadly to grant the waivers.
(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Edmund Klamann)
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