RFS renewable fuel std
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/7/1755199/-Crony-Capitalism-Corporate-raider-Carl-Ichan-sits-at-the-center-of-the-Scott-Pruitt-scandals
no lnx
Crony Capitalism: Corporate raider Carl Ichan sits at the center of the Scott Pruitt EPA scandals.
Frank Vyan Walton
Community
Saturday April 07, 2018 · 10:05 AM PDT
As documented this week by Rachel Maddow it appears thatScott Pruitt was actually vetted and chosen for his position as EPA chief by billionaire corporate raider Carl Ichan and that besides systematically destroying environmental protections he’s also been going out of his way to shovel cargo ship bushel’s of money directly into Ichan’s pockets.
Before hiring Pruitt he met with Trump at Trump Tower wherehe was told to “go two blocks down the street to talk to Carl” which he did and once he received Ichan’s endorsement he was hired.
Once you understand Ichan’s links to Pruitt many of his subsequent actions begin to make much more sense.
Ichan was brought into the Trump administration as a regulation czar in 2017, but left rather quickly and unceremoniously when it discovered he was using his position to make $100 Millions for himself on the stock market.
Carl Icahn resigned from his post as special advisor on regulation to Donald Trump ahead of a critical magazine article detailing his potential conflicts of interest and questioning whether he had acted illegally.
CNBC originally published an investigation on the matter in December.
The new New Yorker piece centered on how the billionaire investor, who announced his departure from the role on Friday, had been pushing to change part of a rule that has a negative impact on one of his energy investments.
Icahn said that he resigned from the role to avoid "partisan bickering" about his position. The billionaire investor said he did not want that scrutiny to affect the Trump administration's work on regulatory reform.
...
Still, former White House ethics lawyers had told CNBC that Icahn's appointment to the informal role, given his stake in refiner CVR Energy, represented a conflict of interest and could have put him atrisk of violating conflicts laws.
The rule in question requires refiners to blend ethanol, a renewable fuel, into gasoline. In an interview on CNBC's "Fast Money: Halftime Report,"Icahn said the Environmental Protection Agency should immediately revoke part of the rule that requires refiners that cannot blend ethanol into gasoline to buy credits instead.
If Icahn's advice in his capacity as special advisor on regulation contributed to such a repeal,he would have inherently aided in removing a disadvantage for CVR Energy. Repeal of the regulation could have potentially boosted CVR's stock price and enrich Icahn.
The markets were anticipating Icahn would help shape rules that would benefit CVR: Shares of the company rose 11.5 percent after Trump named him to the role. Icahn Associates held 82 percent of CVR Energy's outstanding shares at the time, according to FactSet data.
There’s also the story of the odd trip the Pruitt took to Morocco along with 7 members of his staff and also his full security details
sociates from U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's political days in Oklahoma have come to K Street.
Glenn Coffee and Crystal Coon began lobbying this week for QuikTrip Corp., a convenience store and gas station chain headquartered in Tulsa, Okla., on the renewable fuel standard, according to lobbying disclosure records released by the Senate.
Crystal Coon. Photo courtesy of LinkedIn.
Coffee served in the Oklahoma state Senate with Pruitt as well as in Oklahoma Republican Gov. Mary Fallin's administration, with Coffee serving as secretary of state and Pruitt as attorney general.
Coon served as chief of staff for Pruitt when he took office as attorney general. She has continued to work with Pruitt, consulting for his federal and state political committees.
Coffee too has been working with Pruitt. His law firm, Glenn Coffee & Associates, has done election law compliance work for Pruitt's state campaign.
The lobbying registration shows both are representing QuickTrip at Coffee's consulting firm, the Coffee Group. The convenience mart chain is both Coffee and Coon's first federal lobbying client, according to records.
"I plan to lobby on behalf of interests that I care about and that share a pro market, pro energy, pro environment vision," Coon said in a statement emailed to E&E News.
Glenn Coffee. Photo by Oklahoma Legislative Service Bureau, courtesy of Wikipedia.
QuikTrip has just gotten into the Washington lobbying game. Records show that the company also hired Steptoe & Johnson LLP in July last year and has spent $40,000 on lobbying so far.
As EPA chief, Pruitt has a big part to play in the renewable fuel standard. The agency administers the program, deciding how much ethanol is to be blended into gasoline.
QuikTrip has been in touch with the agency over its concerns with the RFS. It filed comments last month with Pruitt at EPA, attaching a letter sent earlier that said changing the program's so-called point of obligation would be "anti-consumer."
The Trump administration's actions on the RFS are being closely watched. A deal — supposedly engineered by Carl Icahn, the investor and adviser to President Trump — that would have shifted responsibility for renewable fuel mandates from refineries to fuel blenders fell apart earlier this week (*Greenwire*, March 8).
Twitter: @KevinBogardus Email: kbogardus@eenews.net