(KIWA Staff Photo)Washington, D.C. (RI) — The EPA has approved waivers for 29 small oil refineries, allowing them to avoid blending ethanol into gasoline — the highest number since 2017.
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig called the decision “unfortunate and unjustified.” Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he pushed the Trump Administration to reduce the impact of those exemptions by increasing future ethanol blending requirements.
Naig is urging the EPA to quickly follow through on that promise. Grassley says 31,000 Iowans work in the biofuels industry, and he believes the administration responded to concerns raised by Iowa’s congressional delegation.
Brian Jennings, CEO of the American Coalition for Ethanol, says petroleum products are “outrageously expensive” and oil refineries are posting record profits — and he argues it doesn’t make sense to exempt any refiners from blending low-cost renewable fuels.
Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw says the EPA needs to quickly make clear it will protect the 2026 and 2027 biofuels blending requirements and add back what was lost this year. Shaw says the historically high blending levels set for the next two years “don’t mean a thing” if they are undermined by refinery exemptions.
