Volume 165, No. 180 covering the 1st Session of the 116th Congress (2019 - 2020) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SMALL REFINERY WAIVERS AND ETHANOL” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S6503-S6504 on Nov. 12, 2019.
More than half of the Agency's employees are engineers, scientists and protection specialists. The Climate Reality Project, a global climate activist organization, accused Agency leadership in the last five years of undermining its main mission.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SMALL REFINERY WAIVERS AND ETHANOL
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, on behalf of the corn and soybean farmers in my State, I object to ``small refinery relief language'' in the fiscal year 2020 Interior appropriations bill that suggests that the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, disregard Department of Energy determinations on small refinery hardships. The provision encourages EPA to continue allowing refiners to stop blending biofuels with no transparency or evidence of hardship.
Fourteen years ago in this Chamber, I helped enact the renewable fuels standard, RFS, which required petroleum-based vehicle fuels to include a minimum volume of ethanol and biodiesel in them. Both fuels are produced from corn and soybeans, driving economic activity throughout Illinois and the Midwest.
The law has been a tremendous success. We have created new markets for corn and soybeans and helped supply motorists with affordable fuel. We have provided a greener alternative to MTBE and other additives. And now the United States is the world's largest producer of ethanol, generating commerce and creating jobs, both on and off the farm.
In fact, I can hardly think of a national policy in this generation that has achieved greater success for rural economic growth than biofuels. In the wake of the gasoline shortages of the 1970s, the farm financial crisis of the 1980s, the clean air discussions of the 1990s, the oil price spikes of the 2000s, and rural economic conditions of today, biofuels became part of the solution. For more than 40 years, farmers and policymakers built an industry unique to the heartland of this country.
Yet in just 2 years, President Trump has wrestled American biofuels to its knees. He singlehandedly has delivered one crippling blow after another. Each action he has taken contributes to the gradual dismantling of this enterprise. With his involvement, or outright neglect, ethanol prices, profits, and blending are the lowest in history, and thousands of rural jobs have been lost.
The President claims his support for ethanol and biodiesel is strong. I say: believe it when you see it. Because when this President issues declarations of victory on biofuels, facilities stay shuttered and the markets stay stalled.
Congressional frustration on this topic is bipartisan and growing, although some farm State lawmakers and interests still stare at their shoes while a President who shares their political affiliation burns this industry to the ground. Long after the alarm bells were ringing and klaxons were sounding, those who should have known better at the outset, whose earlier responses were accolades, now find themselves at path's end, hoodwinked.
As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I pressed the EPA to approve E15, a 15 percent blend of ethanol in gasoline, for year-round sales as soon as possible. And I applauded that final decision in June. For Illinois, E15 could boost 14 ethanol facilities and 20,000 downstate jobs. For motorists, E15 could save up to 10 cents per gallon.
But pull back the curtain, and the President has allowed EPA to issue 85 secret waivers that allow oil refineries to stop blending biofuels into gasoline. Economists have confirmed that shatters demand for E15. Waivers mean that E15 is a fake victory by President Trump.
After increasing pressure and outcry, on October 4, President Trump publicized an agreement ostensibly designed to restore the lost ethanol demand caused by his waivers back to the 15 billion gallon floor--even 16 billion gallons, claimed the President. Ten days later, the Trump administration stunned observers by publishing details that watered down these numbers and slashed the ethanol deal by half, while stakeholders were coached that nothing has changed.
The language in the Interior appropriations bill suggests that EPA continue to thumb its nose at corn and soybean producers while issuing small oil refinery waivers. Meanwhile, Big Oil is doing just fine. In May, the Department of Energy reported that net income for top U.S. oil companies like Exxon and Chevron has totaled $28 billion, the most profitable in five years. For farmers, however, net income has plummeted 50 percent from its record highs during the Obama administration.
For years, farmers and policymakers of multiple backgrounds and persuasions have come together, in good faith, to carefully build a new industry that benefits consumers, farmers, and rural residents. This pioneering innovation is rooted in the heritage of rural values, all in jeopardy of crumbling because the void between this President's words and acts.
I urge my colleagues to work to support rural America by ending EPA's efforts to issue these waivers without any concern for transparency or economic impact.
Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I support the sentiments of my colleague from Illinois in objecting to the ``small refinery relief'' language in the fiscal year 2020 Interior appropriations bill. In the past, this language has been invoked by the Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to disregard the Department of Energy's recommendations regarding small refinery hardships under the renewable fuel standard, RFS, and waive additional gallons of renewable fuels from our fuel supply. These actions, permitted by President Trump, hurt rural America and our farmers.
The RFS is an important driver of Michigan jobs and our bio-based economy. This Administration's continued abuse of refinery waivers undermine the integrity of the RFS program and hurt our farmers, biofuel producers, and rural communities in Michigan and across the country. I strongly oppose this report language and encourage my colleagues to support rural America's interests by calling to end the Trump administration's abuse of small refinery exemptions.
Ms. SMITH. Mr. President, I would like to add my support to the statement given by my colleague from Illinois. On behalf of the corn and soybean farmers in my State and on behalf of the biofuel industry in my State, I strongly oppose the ``small refinery relief'' language in the fiscal year 2020 Interior appropriations bill. This ``relief language'' will allow the EPA to continue to exempt refiners from blending biofuels without any evidence of actual hardship.
Small refinery waivers from the EPA are wreaking havoc on our Nation's rural economy. Across the country, ethanol plants and biodiesel plants are halting production or being forced to shut down. These biofuel plants often are the local cornerstone of the community, supporting thousands of rural jobs across the country, and serving as important markets for farmers to process millions of bushels of corn, soybeans, and other commodities. Farmers are struggling after years of low prices, extreme weather and a chaotic trade agenda, and instead of providing certainty and relief for our farmers, this administration chose to destroy more markets and further harm rural communities.
The problems caused by small-refinery waiver abuse are seen across the upper Midwest, but they hit the agricultural communities in my state of Minnesota particularly hard. Two months ago, the Corn Plus ethanol plant in Winnebago closed. When I traveled there, I talked to farmers and community members and heard directly about how the loss of that facility will impact their lives. The Corn Plus plant closed, but throughout Minnesota ethanol plants are idling and cutting back, impacting workers and hurting local farmers. For example, a recent Renewable Fuels Association analysis of the impact of idling at the Green Plains plant in Fairmont, MN, found that local corn prices were reduced, leading to an $8.4 million loss for local farmers who typically sell to the plant.
Last week, Tim Rudnicki, executive director for the Minnesota Bio-
Fuels Association traveled to Michigan to testify at the EPA public hearing on their wholly inadequate Trump administration proposed
``fix'' to the waiver abuse problems. In Mr. Rudnicki's remarks, he said that the current EPA is ``driving renewable biofuels backwards and toward the cliff.'' I couldn't agree more. This has to stop, and Congress needs to make it stop because it has become clear that the current Administration has put big oil ahead of our farmers and our rural communities.
In the wake of the EPA's continued efforts to undercut the integrity of the RFS by misusing its waiver authority, I urge my colleagues to support this country's rural communities by ending the EPA's abuse of the small refinery exemptions.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I join my colleagues today in expressing my opposition to the language in the fiscal year 2020 Interior appropriations bill related to the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to issue small refinery waivers under the renewable fuel standard without taking into account the Department of Energy's recommendations.
The Trump administration continues to undermine the renewable fuel standard by granting small refinery waivers to multi-billion-dollar oil companies. Since the beginning of the administration, a total of 85 waivers have been issued, reducing demand for more than 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel. That is why I have repeatedly called on the Trump administration to stop issuing any further waivers, immediately reallocate the remaining gallons, and make public the information regarding any recipients of these exemptions.
We need more transparency and openness about the Environmental Protection Agency's, EPA, use of small refinery waivers--who is applying for and receiving them, how are they documenting their economic hardship, and how is EPA considering that hardship in the context of interagency recommendations. The ``small refinery relief'' provision in the appropriations bill will allow EPA to avoid answering these questions and continue issuing waivers without providing evidence of hardship.
It is for this reason that I am opposed to the ``small refinery relief'' language in the fiscal year 2020 Interior appropriations bill. While the administration must cease issuing any further improper refinery exemptions, as I have been calling for since these abuses began, we can start supporting our farmers and rural communities by removing this harmful provision from the Interior appropriations bill during conference negotiations. Especially at a time when they are facing trade uncertainty, low prices, and difficult weather, our farmers deserve better.
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