In an interview with the Red River Farm Network on Tuesday, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler offered some additional explanation on what the Friday announcement means. The action, he explained, strikes a balance so that EPA can continue offer the small refinery exemptions (SREs).
“We will estimate what that number will be and add it to the RFS for next year so that after the small refineries are exempted, the final number will still end up being 15 billion gallons.” For corn farmers, he noted, that means there will be a “15-billion gallon certainty” and also means that the SREs will be preserved for “those refineries that truly are in jeopardy of going out of business because of the RFS.”
EPA will come out with the supplemental plan for the 2020 biofuel and 2021 biodiesel levels in the “next week or so,” Wheeler said, with a 30-day comment period.
Asked if the action is to account for the SREs that have been granted so far, Wheeler stressed, “It is not retroactive. It is going forward.” He noted EPA has already proposed the Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for 2020 biofuel.
“We will go out for a supplemental proposal in the next few days and increase that for 2020, so that in 2020, the number will be set somewhere above 15 billion gallons knowing that we will be providing some small refinery relief so that we net out at 15 billion gallons.” That way the 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol that is in statute will be met “so we provide that certainty so that corn farmers will be able to produce up to 15 billion gallons of ethanol.”
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