Democrat Senators write EPA demand end to hardship waivers

In Washington, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, along with Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to end the harmful abuse of small refinery hardship waivers under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In a letter sent to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Durbin and his colleagues stress that under the Trump Administration, the granting of waivers has increased by 370 percent with “small refinery” waivers going to prosperous large oil companies while causing more rural biofuels companies to shutter operations. After reports that the President greenlighted the waivers, and signals that the Administration is scrambling to mitigate the economic harm, Durbin said he wants real actions that live up to the promise of helping the nation’s rural economy.