Trump calls meeting with Cabinet officials on biofuels policy: reports

President Trump is organizing White House meetings with Cabinet officials about a federal biofuel mandate that a major refiner blamed for its bankruptcy, Bloomberg and Reuters report.

The first meeting on potential changes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) will be Friday with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Bloomberg said.

Trump will then meet Tuesday with those Cabinet officials and a handful of senators from both oil- and corn-heavy states who care about the policy, both news outlets report.

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The meetings come weeks after Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), the largest fuel refiner on the East Coast, declared bankruptcy, blaming compliance costs associated with the RFS.

The policy requires refiners to blend certain amounts of ethanol and other biofuels into their fossil fuels, or to buy credits on an open market.

PES, which doesn’t have blending facilities, said its costs for credits exceeded its payroll. But Reuters, and ethanol advocates, say other financial problems with the company caused the bankruptcy.

Trump’s meetings may focus on changes tailored to PES or may look at larger tweaks.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is expected to be at the Tuesday meeting, proposed capping the price for which the ethanol credits can be sold. That idea is opposed by ethanol companies, who say it would reduce incentives to produce the renewable fuel.