A law firm representing small U.S. refineries has urged the Environmental Protection Agency to keep refiners’ applications for waivers from the nation’s biofuel policy secret from the Department of Agriculture, arguing that the petitions include confidential business information. The request, made by Perkins Coie in a letter to the EPA dated July 8, adds to mounting pressure from representatives of the refining industry for the Trump administration to box the USDA out of the controversial waiver program. The letter follows Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue publicly expressing opposition to the way the program has been run in recent years. The program can exempt small refiners in financial turmoil from their responsibility to blend ethanol into gasoline under the Renewable Fuel Standard. […]