Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa wants the Securities and Exchange Commission filings to show the extent to which major oil companies are benefitting from the small refiner waivers. South Dakota Corn Growers Association Executive Director Lisa Richardson says the Senator is going after those large companies because transparency is needed to show they don’t really qualify for getting those RFS hardship waivers.
She says those large amount of waivers have created not only economic damage for the ethanol industry but also a lot of uncertainty going forward.
Richardson says farmers need to contact their Congressional delegation and ask them to put pressure on the EPA to stop handing out those RFS exemptions. She says over time those exemptions EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler granted have taken away 10 percent of the RFS.
Senator Grassley wants to make sure the oil companies aren’t allowed to hide behind proprietary information. He says if they’re getting help from the government, the government needs to know the basis for their help and the public also needs to know.
