路透社报道称，美国环境保护署在法院作出有利于放宽规定的裁决之前，自行酌情放宽了可再生燃料标准下的炼油厂规定，此前没有公布相关文件以及政府来源。
根据相关文件显示，这项规则的变更至少在法院裁定特朗普政府援引玉米产业来挽救炼油厂之前4个月生效，并为炼油厂节省了数亿美元，这也是当初修改的目的。
这一消息有可能引发玉米行业的愤怒，因为玉米行业的需求与炼油行业需求相矛盾，炼油厂需要的是更多的乙醇燃料。因此石油和玉米行业利益的不可协调性，导致政府一直处于一个很尴尬的境地。
美国环保署于2016年完成了可再生燃料标准，该标准在《2007年能源独立和安全法案》中订立。根据标准条款，所有炼油厂都有义务将其汽油与乙醇混合，但较小的炼油厂可以获得豁免。除非他们可以证明，将汽油与乙醇混合后会对产生危害。事实上，炼油厂已经花费了数十亿美元来遵守该标准，因此，自法案生效以来，炼油厂和玉米生产商一直在推动各自的利益，并已经取得了成果。
路透社揭示的早期规则变化就是最新的例子，它遵循了美国环保署在当时《可再生燃料标准》中提出的要求，仅在2017年就要生产150亿加仑乙醇。虽然没有早先的年度生产需求，但2016年的乙醇产量却受到了玉米行业的称赞。（作为参考，一蒲式耳的玉米产生大约2.8加仑的乙醇。）
洪伟立 摘译自 路透社
原文如下：
EPA Changed Biofuel Credit Rules before Court Allowed It
The Environmental Protection Agency relaxed rules for refiners under the Renewable Fuel Standard at its own discretion before a court ruled in favor of such a relaxation, Reuters reports citing documents that have not been released before as well as a government source.
According to the documents and the source, the rule change came into effect at least four months before a court ruling that the Trump administration cites to the corn industry as basis for its move to relax the rules that saved refineries hundreds of millions of dollars. This, according to Reuters’ source, was the purpose of the early change as well.
The revelation will likely cause anger in the corn industry, which has been pushing for the opposite of what the refining lobby wants, that is, requirements for more ethanol in fuel. The issue has basically put the administration between a rock and a hard place as the interests of the oil and the corn lobbies are at irreconcilable odds.
The EPA finalized the Renewable Fuel Standard, which is part of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, in 2016. Under the terms of the standard, all refiners are obligated to blend their gasoline with ethanol, but smaller facilities can win an exemption if they can prove that blending gasoline with ethanol would harm them financially. Indeed, refiners have spent billions The early rule change revealed by Reuters is the latest example of this. It followed a requirement set out by the EPA in the then brand new Renewable Fuel Standard that 15 billion gallons of ethanol be produced in 2017 alone. Although short of an earlier annual production requirement, the 2016