The American Petroleum Institute (API) petition for EPA to reconsider the 2020 biofuel and 2021 biodiesel standards in the wake of the COVID-19 situation is being opposed by several U.S. farm and commodity organizations.
API based their petition on the 10th Circuit Court ruling that three small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for the 2016 compliance year were invalid, arguing that EPA should now reopen the 2020 biofuel standards given that those standards included an accounting for SREs aimed at effectively increasing the level of biofuel used.
“There is no basis for revisiting or modifying EPA's current approach until EPA acknowledges that the central tenets of the Tenth Circuit's decision are appropriately applied throughout the country,” the groups said in a letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Applying the Tenth Circuit decision nationally while leaving the 2020 RFS Rule intact would begin to restore a small amount of the renewable fuel volume requirements lost to past small refinery exemptions.”
The groups also questioned whether API qualifies to seek a reconsideration of the 2020 biofuel and 2021 biodiesel standards. Plus, the groups argued reconsidering the standards would be counter to the EPA stance of not going back to revisit the RFS levels once they have been finalized.
“We agree with API that the Tenth Circuit decision warrants immediate national application, but since reconsideration of the 2020 RFS Rule is neither practical nor legally defensible, we encourage EPA to confirm the wisdom of that conclusion in its upcoming proposal to set annual standards for 2021,” the groups said.
The Renewable Fuels Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union and American Coalition for Ethanol signed the letter.
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