EPA Signals No Timeline for Decisions On RFS Exemption Requests

The decision timeline for EPA relative to small refiner exemptions from their Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) obligations remains uncertain, though Reuters reported that the decisions could come in late May. The Department of Energy (DOE) has provided their scoring of the exemption requests to EPA relative to the 40 requests that have been received for the 2018 compliance year. EPA has yet to act on any of those requests. Politico reported Wednesday that the DOE information was delivered to EPA last week. "No decisions regarding 2018 SREs [small refiner exemptions] have been made," Michael Abboud, a spokesman for the EPA said. "Many aspects of the decisions for exempting individual refineries are based on confidential business information." As for EPA Administrator Andy Wheeler telling Reuters in an interview that he thought with Renewable Identification Number (RIN) prices lower, that should ease the financial strain on refineries and that could mean fewer exemptions would be granted by EPA. However, Reuters quoted a source as saying that the DOE process for scoring the requests put little weight on RIN prices.