A response to a request for more details on how the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) scores and makes recommendations on refinery exemptions from compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has many in the government and in the renewable fuels industry scratching their heads. U.S. Senator, Chuck Grassley, received a letter from Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, who says he is fully aware of instances in which the DOE had recommended partial or even no exemption to certain refineries, yet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted full exemption. This is in contradiction to EPA claims that they simply follow the recommendations made by the DOE on issuing waivers. On Wednesday, Executive Director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Monte Shaw, thanked Senator Grassley for his diligence and his “dogged fight to demand the truth’ about RFS refinery exemptions. “The DOE letter confirms media reports that former EPA Administrator (Scott) Pruitt may have lied to Congress, which is a crime, and Pruitt’s past statements warrant further Congressional investigation,” Shaw says. “Furthermore, this letter is all the proof President Trump should need that the RFS exemption program has been abused and his intervention is needed to stop the granting of unjustified RFS exemptions.” Grassley too says this letter confirms what he had suspected. “President Trump delivered on E15, but EPA has been undermining the president’s commitment to Iowa, the Midwest and rural America,” Grassley says. “I hope the White House puts an end to these handouts to Big Oil that hurt American farmers.”
