EPA currently expects to make decisions on small refiner exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for the 2018 compliance year in the next few weeks, according to Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
"We're going through them," Wheeler told reporters as he visited a refinery in Pennsylvania Monday. "We hope to be processing them and making decisions in the next few weeks and month at the most.”
EPA received the recommendations from the Department of Energy (DOE) in April relative to the SREs for the 2018 compliance year. However, no action has been taken as of yet on most of the requests. EPA data shows 40 SRE requests were received for the 2018 compliance year with two being declared ineligible or withdrawn, leaving 38 still pending.
President Donald Trump also asked EPA and USDA to come up with a resolution on the controversial topic after he was surprised by criticism of the SREs when he made a stop in Iowa in June to tout the allowance of year-round sales of E15 fuel. That order by Trump prompted a firestorm of criticism from those on both sides of the issue..
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