With Trump, oil refiners ‘will be back in the driver’s seat’ on RFS
The incoming Trump administration is likely to be unfriendly to biofuels if it repeats the record of the president-elect’s first term in office, said biofuels analyst Scott Irwin of the University of Illinois on Wednesday. There could be the liberal approval of waivers exempting small refiners from the Renewable Fuel Standard, he said, as well as efforts to whittle down the ethanol mandate.
Democrats in Congress propose $10 billion in economic aid to farmers
With Congress adjourned in 10 days, Democrats proposed $10 billion in economic assistance to farmers nationwide to buffer the impact of lower commodity prices. Senior farm-state Republicans have said substantial aid is needed — $15 billion was mentioned on Wednesday — but House GOP leaders reportedly objected to the offset Democrats would use to pay for the aid.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Food inflation is up: With higher meat prices a factor, food costs rose 2.6 percent in the past 12 months, the highest annualized rate since 2.6 percent in January, said the monthly CPI report. (Department of Labor)
Advice on meat is ‘concerning’: The suggestion by the Dietary Guidelines advisory committee that Americans eat more legumes and less red and processed meat “is concerning, given that beef is a nutrient-rich food” that is part of a balanced diet, said the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee. (Sen. Boozman)
Bird flu in Nevada: A dairy herd in Nye County, in south-central Nevada, was infected with the H5N1 avian flu virus, making the state the 16th with an infected herd. Nationwide, 774 herds have been infected this year, 559 of them in California. (USDA)
RFK Jr. wanted Miller: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for HHS secretary, hoped to see “a like-minded disrupter” at the USDA but was too late in recommending Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller for Agriculture secretary. (Wall Street Journal)
