Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/11/18

While corn-state Republicans thanked the president last week for squashing proposed changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard that would have sharply increased the number of biofuel credits in the market, experts tell Pro Energy's Eric Wolff that oil refiners are the ones reaping the rewards of the stalled deal.

The dozens of economic hardship waivers already issued by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has pushed the cost of those biofuels credits to their lowest levels in five years — and without a biofuel deal, those waivers will stay in place for now, Eric reports.

"No deal allows the EPA to continue to implement actions as they see fit, and those have been benefiting refiners," said Andy Lipow, an oil industry analyst with Lipow Oil Associates. Pruitt's actions "are geared toward helping manufacturing, and the oil industry is just one of the many he's been helping through the deregulation process."

Ethanol producers complain the waivers remove an incentive for oil industry players to develop new infrastructure to increasing fuel blending.