A major labor union — the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers — is urging President Trump not to put union jobs at risk by increasing federal biofuel blending obligations for refiners. The Boilermakers union represents American workers in industrial construction, repair and maintenance, including many refinery employees.
In this new letter to the White House, Boilermakers President Newton B. Jones, writes:
- Increasing biofuel mandates “will only result in skyrocketing compliance costs, putting American jobs at risk — jobs hard working Americans, like the Boilermakers, depend on to put food on the table and take care of their families.”
- “Any change in the current SRE [small refinery exemption] policy, or any policy that would increase the requirement for other refiners that do not receive the exemptions, will also put American jobs at risk.”
- The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers are in complete agreement with the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and the American Petroleum Institute (API). “The facts are clear that there has been NO reduction in biofuel consumption associated with Small Refiner Exemptions (SREs).”
A copy of the letter is available here.
The International Boilermakers letter comes on the heels of another sent to President Trump from Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Union (NABTU), which represents 3 million skilled workers. The NABTU letter states that maintaining a balanced SRE program and lowering overall RFS obligations are necessary to fulfilling the President’s campaign promise to protect every manufacturing job. The full text of that letter is available here.
