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EC IL | NOW we see why Pruitt was forced out.
Under the scrapped plan, the EPA would have estimated the number of gallons of gasoline and diesel that would likely be exempted in 2019 under the small refinery waiver program and force the larger refineries to make up the difference.
The EPA projected some 8.18 billion gallons of gasoline and 5.44 billion gallons of diesel produced by small refiners would be exempt from the requirements in 2019, the documents showed.
The documents were published by the EPA as part of requirements aimed at providing the public more insight into federal decision making. Reuters and other news outlets reported on the EPA’s 2019 volumes proposal, but the documents provide new details about the agency’s approach.
The proposed changes came in a June 19th email from Tia Sutton of the EPA to the White House Office of Management and Budget. Pruitt, who resigned amid ethics scandals last week, had just returned from a Midwest tour where he met with farmers angry over his expansion of the exemption program.
A day later, some legal justification was added to the proposed rule, stating “this approach is consistent with the text of our regulations, which accounts for the amount of gasoline and amount of diesel projected to be produced by exempt small refineries in 2019.”
Refiners learned of the changes and made a full-court press to the agency and White House to reverse it.
Refinery-state senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, both Republicans, had calls with Pruitt a day after reports of the changes circulated, according to Pruitt’s public schedule.
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EPA scraps bio fuel plan
