Texas Senator Ted Cruz spoke this week before workers at the bankrupt Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refinery. He says the bankruptcy was caused by the law requiring refiners to purchase Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, mandated by the Renewable Fuels Standard. A Delaware Dot Com Article calls the RINs a “receipt that shows gasoline sold at a filling station contains an ethanol mix.” However, Kevin Skunes (Skoo’-nehs), National Corn Growers Association President, says Cruz is way off base. He says most of the nation’s oil refiners are showing double-digit profit increases, but the problems of Philadelphia Energy Solutions are self-inflicted. “That company’s investors put their interests ahead of their workers’ interests,” he says, “and it’s disingenuous for Cruz to say he’s looking out for refinery workers when he’s really looking out for the Wall Street investors who made bad business decisions yet still ensured they got their payouts first, putting refinery jobs at risk.” He adds that the Environmental Protection Agency, university experts, and financial analysts all confirm that refinery owners aren’t facing a RIN price impact because they recover any costs through the price they get for their refined products. “Cruz is trying to upend the RFS to bail out refiners who opted not to invest in blending infrastructure,” Skunes says, “so they could blend renewable fuels and get free biofuels credits.”