TRUMP REFEREEING THE FARMERS VS REFINERS MATCH

  The meetings come amid rising concern in the White House over the current state of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a law requiring refiners to mix biofuels such as corn-based ethanol into their fuel, which has increasingly divided two of Trump’s most important constituencies. A refining company, Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) in the key electoral state of Pennsylvania, last month blamed the regulation for its bankruptcy.
   A meeting earlier in the week ended with Iowa Republican Senators calling the White House efforts to help refiners cope with the regulation a threat to farmers, and vowing to fight proposed changes.

  Refiners must cover the costs of blending increasing volumes of biofuels such as ethanol into the nation’s gasoline and diesel each year. To prove compliance with the program, they have to acquire credits called RINs, either by earning them through blending or by buying them; the price of RINs has surged in recent years.