EPA Grants Additional 2017 Small Refinery Waiver from Nation's Biofuel Laws

by Jarrett Renshaw (Reuters) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted an additional 2017 small refinery waiver from the nation’s biofuel laws, bringing the tally to 35, the agency disclosed on Thursday. READ MORE

Excerpt from Biodiesel Magazine: The Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association issued statements in response to the news that EPA approved another small refinery exemption for compliance year 2017.

“If these exemption trends continue, they will fully and completely undermine the RFS at the expense of rural America and cause consumers to pay more at the pump for dirtier fuels,” said Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the RFA. “With dozens of ethanol plants closing or idling and U.S. ethanol consumption showing the first annual decline in 20 years, it is unfathomable that the new EPA administrator would double down on former Administrator Pruitt’s unjustifiable abuse of the small refinery exemption provision. We hope that today’s waiver marks the end of this destructive trend and hope to see a more transparent process in the weeks to come as EPA decides on the 39 pending 2018 exemption requests.”

“New leadership at the EPA was supposed to mean a return to the president’s pro-biofuel agenda,” said Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy. “Instead, we’re getting a man-made recession in rural America, just to boost profits for a few oil giants. There’s no way to view continued abuse of EPA wavers except as a betrayal of rural manufacturing workers and farm communities. The EPA has now destroyed 2.6 billion gallons of biofuel demand, eliminating the market for a billion bushels of U.S. grain. Farm families are already facing natural disasters, on top of lost export markets. If the EPA doesn’t act now to restore the market promised to farmers, there is little hope for a swift rural recovery. EPA must start considering denials for the record 39 exemption requests that have already arrived for 2018. If 2018 looks anything like 2017 in terms of refinery handouts, the damage to the rural economy could be irreparable.”

Monte Shaw, IRFA’s executive director, said, “Today’s announcement highlights some startling facts. The Trump administration has granted over 2.5 billion gallons of SREs. The Trump administration has not denied a single SRE to date, even as refiners enjoy record profits and ethanol plants are shuttered and sold. For the first time in 20 years, U.S. ethanol use fell in 2018. And farm income is declining for yet another year. This bleak record is not what President Trump promised to Iowa voters. A major course correction is needed before it's too late.” READ MORE