特朗普政府表示，将弥补因近十年来最大规模的炼油厂免于混合强制令而导致的生物燃料需求损失，为美国农民提供提振。
The Trump administration said it will make up for lost biofuels demand after the biggest breaks from blending mandates for refiners in nearly a decade, providing a boost for American farmers.
环境保护署在向彭博社的声明中表示，将提议要求炼油厂在明年混合更多生物燃料，以弥补近期因强制使用玉米和大豆基燃料的强制令而获得的豁免。该提议是将2025年小型炼油厂豁免的实际量与豁免量之间100%的差额重新分配到2026年和2027年的义务中。
The Environmental Protection Agency will propose to make oil refiners blend more biofuels through next year to make up for recent exemptions from mandates compelling the use of corn and soy-based fuels, the agency said in a statement to Bloomberg. The proposal is to reallocate 100% of the difference between actual and exempted volumes for 2025 small refinery exemptions into the 2026 and 2027 obligations.
该决定重申了环境保护署在8月宣布的计划，当时其授予较小的炼油厂自2017年以来最大规模的免于强制混合生物燃料到汽油和柴油中的豁免。为照顾农民，它还表示将基本上迫使未获得豁免的炼油厂为获得豁免的炼油厂买单，这一过程称为重新分配，这一直是石油行业的痛点。
The decision reaffirms the EPA’s plan announced in August, when it granted smaller oil refineries the biggest amount of exemptions from mandates requiring them to blend biofuels into gasoline and diesel since 2017. In a nod to farmers, it also said it would essentially force refiners that didn’t receive breaks to pay for those that did in a process called reallocation, which has been a sore point for the oil industry.
“环境保护署正在兑现为农民开拓新市场的承诺，”该署在声明中表示。这是为了“确保他们拥有一个可靠且持久的市场来销售农作物。”该做法凸显了特朗普在石油和农业行业之间艰难的平衡行为——这两个重要群体对生物燃料政策有着竞争性的需求。结果是一种妥协，既让炼油厂获得价值数十亿美元的豁免，又减轻了对乙醇和生物柴油生产者的冲击。然而，拥有较大炼油厂的石油公司则承担了更重的负担。
“EPA is keeping our promise to open new markets for farmers,” the agency said in the statement. This is to “ensure they have a reliable and durable market to sell their crops.”The approach underscores the difficult balancing act for Trump between the oil and agriculture industries, two important constituencies with competing demands on biofuel policy. The result is a compromise that gives refiners billions of dollars worth of breaks while softening the blow to producers of ethanol and biodiesel. Oil companies with larger refineries, however, are left with a heavier burden.
可再生燃料标准计划由国会二十年前创建，旨在提振国内需求并支持农村社区，要求炼油厂在汽油和柴油中混合一定量的生物燃料。
The Renewable Fuel Standard program, which was created by Congress two decades ago to bolster domestic demand and support rural communities, requires refiners to blend a certain amount of biofuels into gasoline and diesel.
许多公司不是自己混合乙醇和生物柴油等生物燃料，而是从进行混合的公司购买可交易的信用额度 — — 即所谓的可再生识别编号（RINs）。由于特朗普政府设定了创纪录的高混合配额，且中东战争导致全球燃料供应紧张，这些信用额度的价格在今年飙升。
Many companies, rather than blending biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel themselves, buy tradeable credits — so-called renewable identification numbers, or RINs — from those that do. Those credits have spiked in price this year after the Trump administration set record-high blend quotas and as war in the Middle East strained global fuel supplies.
一些中小型炼油企业认为，他们需要暂免这些强制要求，以使某些炼油厂保持盈利。但其他人则表示，一些公司通过这些豁免赚取了大量利润。
Some small and mid-sized refiners have argued that they need breaks from these mandates to keep certain refineries profitable. But others have said that some companies make a lot of money off of those exemptions.
与此同时，农民们正面临战争导致的投入品（如肥料和柴油）价格飙升以及农作物需求停滞的困境，他们表示，意外的豁免可能进一步削弱他们产品的需求。
Meanwhile, farmers, who are struggling with war-driven soaring prices for inputs like fertilizer and diesel and stagnating demand for their crops, say unexpected breaks threaten to curb demand for their products even more.