The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated its small refinery exemption (SRE) dashboard, disclosing the Agency’s received 52 new SRE petitions or so-called ‘gap filings’ for compliance years 2018 to as far back as 2011 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This update follows pressure from ACE and other biofuel and farm advocates in calling on EPA to offer answers regarding these retroactive SREs. The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings issued the following reaction statement:
“For those of us who have been paying attention to how the Trump administration handles the RFS, it should no longer be shocking or surprising that EPA yet again appears to be aiding and abetting refineries escape their legal responsibility to blend ethanol and other renewable fuels. While we have been waiting since January for EPA to comply with our victory in the Tenth Circuit Court and limit the number of SREs going forward, it seems the Agency’s priority has instead been to help refiners invent this ‘gap year’ workaround.
“It’s imperative for grassroots biofuel stakeholders and farmers to speak out against this latest attempt to circumvent the law and court decisions before EPA takes action on the 52 ‘new’ retroactive waiver requests.”
