‘Biofuels fight to persist’

Bloomberg

Billionaire Carl Icahn says an oil industry push for structural change to the US biofuels mandate will persist, raising the prospect of legal action, even if the Environmental Protection Agency denies refiner requests.
Independent oil refiners
have no plans to abandon their view that the current structure of the Renewable Fuel Standard is flawed, Icahn said in an interview, his first public comments since an Aug. 18 letter to President Donald Trump. The letter addressed his departure as a special regulatory adviser amid questions raised by Democratic lawmakers about potential conflicts of interest with his business dealings.
Icahn said that there are a number of tools that the industry could use to push for the change, including lawsuits forcing the agency to reconsider the decision. The Small Retailers Coalition, which represents about 200 convenience store owners and independent petroleum sellers, filed a legal complaint on the biofuels program on Monday in the Northern District of Texas court.
The billionaire holds a majority stake in CVR Energy Inc., an independent oil refiner. Icahn has argued that costs to comply with the biofuels law are burdensome and that the onus for compliance should be moved from refiners to further down the fuel supply chain to entities such as fuel blenders. Icahn was named a special adviser to the president in December, which drew criticism about conflicts of interest. His position was the subject of a New Yorker magazine piece earlier this month.
Icahn pointed to a White House statement in the August New Yorker story. The statement said ‘‘there was no ‘effective’ end date, because there was never a formal appointment or title after January 20.”