Greenshift Corporation (GERS)

[Harry Winston]

This is the entire content of a news story that was published today by Reuters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has rejected requests from the corn lobby to reallocate biofuel volumes waived under its small refinery exemption program into its 2019 mandate, an agency official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The move is likely to infuriate the powerful corn lobby and top officials in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who have complained for months that an expansion of the EPA’s refinery waiver program under the Trump administration threatens demand for crucial farm products like corn-based ethanol.

Under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard, oil refiners must blend increasing amounts of biofuels into their fuel each year or purchase blending credits from those that do. But small refineries can be exempted from the RFS if they prove that complying would cause them financial strain.

The official also said the 2019 annual biofuel mandate figures were set to be largely in line with the agency’s June proposal of 19.88 billion gallons.

Unlike some people, I'm not content to simply post a story and then walk away from it. I like to analyze analyze the story.

First, the EPA doessn't have the final say about their decisions. They answer to the President. In addition, their decisions can be contradicted by court rulings.

Second, any reduction in the demand for corn-based ethanol, as mentioned in the second paragraph, is likely to hurt the revenue for Greenshift's licensees, but any loss of revenue won't be documented until the company begins to release some financial figures, preferably in the form of some 10-K reports filed with the SEC. It should go without saying that I have an even bigger preference for 10-Q reports, especially if they're filed prior to the statutory deadlines.

The second paragraph also mentions the powerful corn lobby and the U.S. Department of Agriculture,

who have complained for months that an expansion of the EPA’s refinery waiver program under the Trump administration threatens demand for crucial farm products like corn-based ethanol.

If this lobby has any real power, they'll be able to compensate for the reduced U.S. demand by finding and signing up some foreign customers for their corn oil products that include ethanol but which also may include the lignin and other materials that Greenshift produces.

The third paragraph says that small refineries can be exempted from the Renewable Fuel Standard if they prove that this would create a financial strain on their companies. Any documentation of this strain would be an interesting read. Can someone find this documentation and post it here?