EPA Denies Trump Advisor Carl Icahn Inappropriately Influenced New Regulations

Image by getty images
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Investor Carl Icahn never wielded excessive influence on U.S. biofuels policy while acting as President Trump’s adviser on regulation, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said in a letter to a Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.
The letter, dated September 11, was a response to repeated requests by Whitehouse and other Democratic lawmakers for information on Icahn’s dual role as an adviser on biofuels regulation and a majority stakeholder in a refining company, CVR Energy, directly affected by those rules.
Icahn ended his adviser role in August after facing criticism that his guidance to Trump represented a conflict of interests as it may have benefited CVR. Icahn has denied the allegations.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in the letter to Whitehouse, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, that Icahn was “one of many” of Trump’s advisers that he met during his confirmation process, and he “made no assurances with regard to the point of obligation or any other substantive issue.”
The “point of obligation” refers to a requirement under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard that refiners blend increasing amounts of biofuels like ethanol into their gasoline every year. Icahn, CVR, and a handful of other refiners wanted to shift that responsibility off refiners in a way that would have saved them hundreds of millions of dollars.
Icahn proposed the reform to the administration in February. The Trump administration has not made a decision on the request, but environmental regulators are preparing to formally reject it, sources have told Reuters.
A spokesman for Whitehouse said the senator was reviewing Pruitt’s response “for accuracy and to determine whether additional steps are warranted.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 2
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 3
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
-
Fast Forward First American pope, Leo XIV, studied under a leader in Jewish-Catholic relations
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.