EPA has to reconsider small refinery exemptions (SREs) issued for the 2016 compliance under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), according to a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.
The court ruled that exemptions granted to Holly Frontier’s Woods Cross and Cheyenne refineries and CVR Energy’s Wynewood refinery were improper, stating the agency overstepped its authority as the refiners had not previously been granted SREs. The court said the statute states that any SRE granted to a refinery has to be in the form of an “extension” after 2010, yet the three refineries were given exemptions for the first time in the 2016 compliance year.
"Because an 'extension' requires a small refinery exemption in prior years to prolong, enlarge or add to, the three refinery petitions in this case were improvidently granted," the court said. "We remand these matters to the EPA for further proceedings consistent with this opinion."
EPA approved 19 of the 20 SRE requests received for the 2016 compliance year and it rejected only one of the requests.
There are currently 21 SRE requests pending at EPA for the 2019 compliance year, already at half the level that were requested for the 2018 compliance year.
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