Icahn’s Biofuel Fight Lives On

  • Ethanol industry and oil refiners both feel threatened
  • Biofuel mandate divides two states that voted for Trump
Grain storage silos stand beyond tanker railcars used to transport denatured alcohol, or ethanol, at the Great River Energy Blue Flint Ethanol plant in Underwood, North Dakota, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012. North Dakota will hold its Republican presidential caucus on March 6.Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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Top Trump administration officials are planning two summits to discuss possible changes to the U.S. biofuel mandate, according to people familiar with the discussions, as the White House grapples with political fallout from the bankruptcy of the largest refiner in the Northeast.

The meetings, set to begin Friday, come amid intense and growing scrutiny of the Renewable Fuel Standard, a 13-year-old requirement that refiners mix biofuel -- generally ethanol -- into gasoline and diesel. The Friday session is planned with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.