Photo courtesy of cindyaxneforcongress.com

U.S. Representative for Iowa’s Third District Cindy Axne (D) has called for a federal investigation into the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent small refinery waivers that exempts such facilities from blending requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

In a letter sent to the Acting Inspector General of the EPA, Axne questioned the decision making and misuse of the EPA’s “small refinery exemption” authority to benefit large companies that may be exerting a greater influence over the regulatory process, “In the decade prior to the Trump Administration, 10 waivers were issued. We’ve now had over 80 waivers issued to folks like Chevron and Exxon, these are big fossil fuel companies that don’t have financial hardship. The only reason you’re supposed to get a waiver is because of financial hardship so we know these companies don’t have it. What’s happening is we’re putting more money in the pockets of those wealthy shareholders for big oil and taking the money out of hardworking Iowan farmers.”

Axne adds that through the small refinery exemptions, the EPA has waived more than 4 billion gallons of requirements for renewable fuel blending at the expense of the ethanol industry. To hear more from Axne on the issue, listen to today’s Let’s Talk Guthrie County program.