Orange City, Iowa — Iowa’s two US Senators are not happy about a new report that says the EPA granted retroactive waivers to refineries to allow them to get around the requirements for blending ethanol in gasoline under the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley talked about the issue during a meeting at Northwestern College in Orange City.
Reuters reported the story of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt granting the retroactive waivers. Grassley says this is another case of what he calls “detractors” from keeping Pruitt in the position and says he needs answers on paper about them.
Iowa’s other Senator, Joni Ernst, issued a statement on the issue saying “Pruitt needs to understand that his actions to continue to grant waivers, now retroactively, to oil refineries is undermining the Renewable Fuel Standard — a program that Administrator Pruitt told Congress he was committed to upholding.” Ernst a Republican from Red Oak went on to say that the waivers to oil refineries and the delay in the year-round use of E-15 is undermining the RFS.
