White House wants a biofuel deal by week’s end

In Washington, Reuters reports that the White House told biofuel companies at a meeting on Wednesday that it wants them to accept the proposed 5% increase to biofuel blending next year, far below what the industry was looking for to make up for demand destruction resulting from Environmental Protection Agency policies, and that they want the agreement done by Friday. The White House says that if the discussions go on for too long, there won’t be enough time to get the policy in place for next year’s blending mandate. The meeting later in the afternoon with oil industry representatives saw them ask the White House to cap RIN prices, but the White House told them they too needed to sign off on the deal by Thursday. The White House may meet with Senators on the issue Thursday, which in turn have seen oil refiners buying more RINs and push up prices as a result.