The Biofuel Subsidy Scams

Corporate subsidies, in an era of fiscal-cliff attacks on Social Security and Medicare, have dodged attention despite their magnitude and absurdity. Take the renewable-fuels subsidy ecosystem—and a train of tankers filled with biodiesel that shuttled back and forth across the border between Sarnia, Ontario, and Port Huron, Michigan, twelve times, without unloading its cargo. It generated millions of dollars in profits.

The mystery train was an outgrowth of the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard mandate that requires oil companies to blend (subsidized) biofuels with (subsidized) fossil fuels—or alternatively, purchase Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, as offsets.

Each RIN is a serial number for a batch of biofuel, such as biodiesel or ethanol. RINs are generated when the biofuel is produced or imported. Under the mandate, oil companies must blend 1 billion gallons of biodiesel a year into the fuel stream. Each refiner’s contribution is determined by its market share. If a refiner doesn’t want to comply, it can instead buy RIN credits from biodiesel producers. Hence, a $2 billion market for biodiesel RIN credits, policed by the ever so vigilant EPA. But RIN credits can be traded independently from the batches of biofuel that generated them. And this has opened up some opportunities.

Last year, Clean Green Fuels in Maryland was accused of selling 32 million fake biodiesel RIN credits to oil companies and brokers. In June 2012, CEO Rodney Hailey was convicted of wire fraud, money laundering, and of violating the Clean Air Act.

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