The Trump Administration may be looking for other solutions to the fight between the oil and ethanol industries over RINs or ethanol credits. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says new proposals by EPA chief Scott Pruitt show the administration may be softening its position that a RINS price cap or waiver demanded by oil refiners is the only solution to the RINS fight against ethanol:
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Grassley says he may have been too strong in his recent criticism of USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, who may have argued at a White House meeting with the president, Pruitt, and others, that a cap would not hurt ethanol if it was paired with an E-15 year-round waiver:
That’s even after Perdue publicly questioned the economic link between RIN prices and renewable fuel volumes in the marketplace—an issue Grassley says Perdue had to “think through.” But, Grassley says others in the administration are still listening to the oil industry’s point of view on capping RINS, even as a study by oil refiner Valero points to a possible ulterior motive:
A study by the University of Illinois concludes a 10-cent cap on RIN prices would be “catastrophic” for the RFS, “removing all incentives for blending E-15 and E-85.” An Iowa State University study pegs the loss at 750-million gallons or 25-cents per bushel of corn.