Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler took a few hours "to get on the same page Wednesday about whether the Trump administration's proposed rule to allow year-round sales of 15-percent-ethanol fuel would be ready in time for the summer driving season," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico's Morning Agriculture newsletter. "The mixed messages illustrated the uncertainty around EPA's ambitious E15 timeline, especially after the government shutdown delayed things for a month."
The confusion began when Perdue told the House Agriculture Committee that EPA would not have the regulation ready by June, "an outcome that would ruffle feathers among influential Midwestern farmers, ethanol groups and lawmakers," Helena Bottemiller Evich and Eric Wolff report. "EPA's work on the rule to allow year-round sales of E15 has been delayed by the five-week government shutdown, putting the agency's June 1 target date in jeopardy."
Then, at an event at USDA headquarters for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, Wheeler contradicted Perdue: "That is not a fact. We are working hard to get it done before summer driving season." He told the officials to ignore reports that the rule wouldn't be out by the summer driving season, Wolff and Liz Crampton report.
Perdue later explained, "Administrator Wheeler told me a couple weeks ago that in catching up after the shutdown, it looked very doubtful they'd be able to make the commitment prior to driving time. But I think he's really pushing and driving his troops to get that done. And today he told me he thought it was very likely they could get it done and would do so if at all possible."
"The confusion might be understandable," Politico reports. "Wheeler himself told lawmakers last month at his confirmation hearing that he wasn't sure the agency could get the rule done on time."
Then, at an event at USDA headquarters for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, Wheeler contradicted Perdue: "That is not a fact. We are working hard to get it done before summer driving season." He told the officials to ignore reports that the rule wouldn't be out by the summer driving season, Wolff and Liz Crampton report.
Perdue later explained, "Administrator Wheeler told me a couple weeks ago that in catching up after the shutdown, it looked very doubtful they'd be able to make the commitment prior to driving time. But I think he's really pushing and driving his troops to get that done. And today he told me he thought it was very likely they could get it done and would do so if at all possible."
"The confusion might be understandable," Politico reports. "Wheeler himself told lawmakers last month at his confirmation hearing that he wasn't sure the agency could get the rule done on time."
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