US EPA decides on 16 more RFS small-refinery exemption petitions

The U.S. EPA announced Nov. 7 its decision on 16 individual small-refinery exemption (SRE) petitions from eight refineries seeking waivers from their Renewable Fuel Standard obligations for the 2021-’24 compliance years.

In consultation with DOE, EPA said it reviewed all the information submitted by each individual refinery in support of its petition.

EPA stated after careful consideration of all statutory factors and the information submitted by the refineries, the agency is granting full (100 percent) exemptions to two petitions, granting partial (50 percent) exemptions to 12 petitions, and denying two petitions.

The Nov. 7 decisions break down as follows:

In addition, EPA corrected an error in one of the SRE decisions issued in August, when the agency ruled on 175 SRE petitions from 38 refineries.

In response to the Nov. 7 action by EPA, which returns more RINs to the market, Clean Fuels Alliance America urged EPA to quickly finalize the overdue RFS rule for 2026 and 2027 and to fully reallocate all granted and expected SREs.

“Clean Fuels calls on EPA to keep its commitment to farmers and clean-fuel producers and fully reallocate all exemptions granted so far or expected in coming years,” said Kurt Kovarik, Clean Fuels’ vice president of federal affairs. “We appreciate EPA making decisions on exemptions in time to be accounted for in the pending rule, but we also ask the agency to finalize the overdue 2026 and 2027 RFS rule by Dec. 31. And we emphasize that EPA must include both a full SRE reallocation volume for 2023 through 2025 exemptions as well as a prospective estimate of exempted volumes for 2026 and 2027.”

EPA recently closed comments on a supplemental notice to increase 2026 and 2027 RFS obligations in order to reallocate SREs granted in August.

The agency notified stakeholders that it intends to include all exemptions granted before the rule is finalized in the reallocation calculation.

“EPA understands that small-refinery exemptions will destroy demand for biomass-based diesel over the next several years by enabling refiners to avoid RFS obligations,” Kovarik said. “Clean Fuels recently provided EPA data showing that biodiesel and renewable diesel producers could lose billions of gallons of demand over the next two years, and farmers stand to lose as much as 40 cents on every bushel of soybeans, if the agency fails to reallocate small-refinery exemptions. Accounting for 100 percent of the exemptions granted and expected is the only way to ensure that robust 2026 and 2027 RFS volumes will be met.”

The full document from EPA’s Nov. 7 decision can be accessed here.