Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is specifically trying to determine if refinery owners in the Philadelphia area enlisted the help of Vice President Joseph Biden and Gene Sperling, President Obama's former top economic adviser, to encourage the EPA to reduce its blending mandates for the Renewable Fuel Standards for 2014.
Its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeks records from January 1, 2013 through the present.
“The EPA seems to have made an unusual decision: for the first time decreasing, rather than increasing, the amount of renewable fuel required to be mixed into fuel supplies. The American public deserves to know who influenced this apparent about-face,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan in a written statement.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the Carlyle Group and Delta Air Lines, both of which own refineries in the Philadelphia area and are concerned about the impact of increased biofuel mandates, reached out to Reps. Robert Brady (D-PA) and Patrick Meehan (R-PA), respectively, and that in July 2013, Rep. Brady contacted Vice President Joseph R. Biden, who agreed to intercede. Rep. Meehan similarly lobbied White House officials on behalf of Delta, hand-delivering a letter to National Economic Counsel Director Gene Sperling and raising the issue with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough.
Last November, the EPA proposed a decrease in the amount of renewable fuels that must be added to petroleum-based fuels -- the first time the agency ever did so.
At the same time, the EPA proposed keeping the mandate for a subset category, biodiesels, unchanged at 1.28 billion gallons for two more years.
Following the Reuters report, CREW requested that the EPA Inspector General investigate whether Carlyle and Delta improperly influenced the RFS proposed by the EPA to financially benefit their refineries.
“The EPA has said it proposed cutting the Renewable Fuel Standard based on production and infrastructure issues. The records CREW has requested will reveal whether the change stemmed from legitimate policy considerations or realpolitik,” Sloan said.
The EPA’s 2014 Renewable Fuel Standards are expected to be finalized in June.
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