EPA has denied 54 requests for small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that were submitted as “gap” filling requests, the agency announced Monday.
The Department of Energy provided its recommendations on 54 of 68 SREs that had been received by EPA since March, recommending either no relief or 50% relief for the refiners submitting the requests. EPA said the decision covers 54 of the SREs and that DOE has not yet provided its recommendations for the other 14 requests.
However, given the reasons laid out by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, some observers expect the remaining 14 will also be denied.
EPA said it based its decision in part on the reasoning that if the refiners in question had suffered harm, they would have previously requested the SREs years ago. That is similar to questions raised by Wheeler relative to the requests previously – that it was difficult to claim injury if the refiner was still in business.