The Big River Resources ethanol plant at West Burlington, Iowa, about 120 km southwest of Davenport. (Steven Vaughn photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. Midwest lawmakers will consider biofuel changes

New York | Reuters — U.S. lawmakers from states that produce corn for ethanol plants said on Wednesday they would consider proposals from Senator Ted Cruz of Texas to help the oil refining industry cope with the nation’s biofuels regulation, but would never agree on anything that diminishes the program. The price of U.S. renewable


The Big River Resources ethanol plant at West Burlington, Iowa, about 120 km southwest of Davenport. (Steven Vaughn photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. EPA ups biofuel targets slightly

Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it will require fuel companies to blend slightly more biofuels into the nation’s gasoline and diesel next year, angering oil refiners who view them as a competitive threat. The announcement follows weeks of lobbying by Midwestern lawmakers and representatives of the corn industry who wanted

The Big River Resources ethanol plant at West Burlington, Iowa, about 120 km southwest of Davenport. (Steven Vaughn photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. EPA abandons changes to biofuel program

New York | Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has backed off a series of proposed changes to the nation’s biofuels policy after a massive backlash from corn-state lawmakers worried the moves would undercut ethanol demand, according to a letter from the agency to lawmakers seen by Reuters. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in


(Dave Bedard photo)

Storms worsen summer slump in U.S. diesel supply

New York | Reuters — U.S. diesel stockpiles did something this year that has never happened in the summer before: They shrank. And that was even before Hurricane Harvey landed, knocking out a quarter of U.S. refining capacity, crippling production of fuel products. Thanks to surprising summer demand, particularly from exports, inventories of diesel, jet




Pressure is growing from gasoline refiners to rethink the structure of biofuel mandates.

U.S. refiners revamp operations as renewable fuel costs surge

Pressure is building to tweak renewable fuel standards as refiner profit margins are crushed

U.S. oil refiners, beset by the weakest profit margins in six years, have been laying off workers, revamping operations and ratcheting up pressure on regulators and lawmakers to tweak the renewable fuel program, whose costs have ballooned. The top 10 U.S. independent refiners look set to take a record hit on renewable fuel credits this