Emails: Clinton team mulled stance on RFS; aimed to support advanced biofuels
By John Siciliano, Washington Examiner.
Hillary Clinton's campaign mulled supporting the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency's renewable fuels program before a campaign tour through the corn state of Iowa last year, according to illegally obtained emails posted by the website WikiLeaks.
Senior campaign aides suggested in the April 2015 emails that coming out forcefully against the EPA would put her at odds with the Obama administration but would go "further" than any Democrat or Republican on the issue of EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard. Supporting the repeal of the standard, which requires certain amounts of ethanol and other biofuels be added into gasoline and diesel supplies, would put her at odds with many Midwest corn states and environmental groups that support the program.
"Many environmental groups see the RFS as a critical instrument in driving biodiesel and other advanced biofuels production," said senior campaign adviser Jake Sullivan in asking for feedback from campaign manager and campaign chairman Robby Mook and John Podesta, respectively. "Such a position would be surprising and clearly differentiated from other Democrats, the Obama administration, and a number of likely or announced Republican presidential contenders," Sullivan said.