WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The agriculture and biofuel industries and their U.S. congressional allies ramped up pressure on the Trump administration on Wednesday over the relief he has given oil refiners from rules requiring use of biofuels.
Long-suffering American farmers, a constituency President Donald Trump is counting on in his campaign for re-election in 2020, have seen prices for crops hit hard by his trade war with China. This month, farmers also complained that a government crop report did not reflect damage from historic flooding this spring.
Farmers have been infuriated at the administration’s decision to grant waivers exempting 31 oil refineries from rules requiring them to blend corn-based ethanol into gasoline.
National and state trade groups along with their political allies delivered letters to the White House over the past 48 hours detailing the damage the waivers have caused the biofuel industry.
Democratic presidential hopefuls have used the refinery issue as a cudgel, echoing farm groups who say Trump has betrayed them by siding with Big Oil. Alarmed, the Republican president ordered his cabinet to find ways to boost biofuel demand.
The Iowa Soybean Association’s letter to the White House said the refining exemptions were forcing biodiesel producers to shut plants and lay off workers. Soybeans are a feedstock for biodiesel, so growers have been hurt.
“It’s becoming more difficult to understand why your administration is choosing to support higher profits for oil companies instead of providing some stability for farmers,” said the letter, signed by Lindsay J. Greiner, president of the state’s soybean association.
Iowa, the largest U.S. producer of corn
