The Trump administration appears set to postpone decisions on ethanol until after the November election to avoid a backlash from the feuding agriculture and petroleum sectors, according to several people in both industries who have been in contact with the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Politico reports the EPA faces a late-November deadline to decide how many billion gallons of ethanol the oil refining industry must blend into the nation's gasoline and diesel supply, but the agency has yet to even issue its proposal, which is itself months overdue.
That decision has been delayed because of a battle over small oil refiners' request for exemptions that corn farmers say would undercut the 2007 law that is designed to promote biofuels.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said last week on a trip to the Midwest that he could not promise a decision on the waivers and 2021 blending levels, calling the issue "complicated."
