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In Amazing Coincidence, Billionaire Who Advised Trump on Regulatory “Reform” Got Huge Regulatory Exemption for His Oil Refinery
In December 2016, Donald Trump announced that he was naming billionaire investor Carl Icahn as “a special advisor to the President on issues relating to regulatory reform.” In August 2017, a New Yorker investigation by Patrick Radden Keefe found that Icahn had used his special position to advocate for the elimination of a federal rule requiring oil refineries to pay for “credits” if they don’t use enough renewable fuel. In a huge coincidence, Icahn is the controlling owner of an oil-refinery-owning company called CVR Energy that is subject to rule. In an even huger coincidence, Reuters now reports that the EPA has given CVR Energy an exemption from having to buy the credits:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted a financial hardship waiver to an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, exempting the Oklahoma facility from requirements under a federal biofuels law, according to two industry sources briefed on the matter.