Trump’s White House recalls Big Oil and Big Ags to debate RFS
Fewer than 48-hours after being called into the White House to discuss the Renewable Fuel Standard, representatives of oil and agriculture are again being summoned as the president tries to broker a deal between sharply conflicting interests.
The development comes just 24 hours after US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue delivered an unequivocal message via the president’s favourite communication platform Twitter regarding the administration’s stance on the RFS.
“Sent message loud & clear,” the tweet from Secretary Perdue’s account said.
“POTUS and I are committed in our support of RFS and biofuels. I will not support any policies which undermine RFS, which is too important to farmers and the agricultural economy.”
The renewable fuels industry, corn and ethanol lobby groups drew comfort from that statement, which came hours after a White House gathering between key senators such as Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst from key agriculture states and senators from energy producing and refining states, Ted Cruz and Pat Toomey.
Vested interests
Cruz is the firebrand former presidential candidate from energy state Texas while Toomey represents Pennsylvania, a state that precipitated the recent concerns over the RFS after a Pennsylvania-based refiner blamed the burden of meeting the RFS for its financial collapse.
Cruz released a statement after the Tuesday meeting describing it as 'positive and productive' and revealing that Trump had asked for a second meeting later in the week.
Ernst, meanwhile, followed up the meeting with a stark reminder of the significance of the RFS to her home state of Iowa, and warned, "it’s clear that this is going to be a very tough road ahead."
Also expected to be at the meeting will be representatives of the industry, including ethanol producers POET and Green Plains, head of the EPA Scott Pruitt and refiners such as Delta airlines and Valero – the latter also being one of the country’s biggest ethanol producers.
Corn demand
Perdue, however, will be absent as he is attending events in California, from where he delivered a speech on Wednesday carrying an unequivocal message from the president which had the agriculture secretary's full support.
“The RFS is a huge part of corn demand… Hear me clearly, I have not and will not support any policies in this country that diminish the demand, undermine RFS and are harmful to agriculture producers. I will not,” Perdue was quoted as saying to a conference in Anaheim, California.
The US ethanol sector is a significant consumer of corn, with around a third of the country’s corn crop currently used to produce ethanol for road fuel demand.
The USDA is currently anticipating US ethanol production will consume 5.525 billion bushels of corn, around 38% of total corn production, although current production levels are set to exceed that estimate.