"NEW YORK - U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley said on Tuesday he supported a plan by one of his Senate colleagues to block the nomination of an Environmental Protection Agency official until the agency makes clear how it would handle requests from oil refiners for retroactive exemptions from their biofuel blending mandates.

Grassley and Senator Joni Ernst, both from Iowa, spoke last week with EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to discuss the waivers, which biofuel advocates in their state claim hurt farmers by undermining demand for corn-based ethanol, Grassley said on a call with reporters.

The EPA recently received 52 new petitions for retroactive biofuel blending waivers that, if granted, would help bring refiners into compliance with a federal court ruling earlier this year that requires new waivers to take the form of extensions to old ones."

Stephanie Kelly reports for Reuters June 30, 2020. [2]