House Biofuels Caucus Urges Trump to Reject SRE Petitions

by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine) Members of the House Biofuels Caucus sent a letter to President Trump on Jan. 12 urging him to direct the U.S. EPA to immediately reject any pending small refinery exemption (SRE) requests that do not meet criteria established by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in its January 2020 ruling on SREs.

In the letter, the representatives say they are alarmed by reports that the EPA may issue numerous pending 2019 SREs despite ongoing legal action and commitments from top EPA officials that this would not occur.

“These illegal small refinery exemptions are contrary to legislative intent and hurt our rural economies; they also impede the use of clean, renewable liquid fuel in the marketplace,” they wrote. “This news arrives at the worst time possible as the biofuels industry continues to reel from the economic impacts caused by the COVID19 pandemic. These exemptions, coming on top of 85 waivers already granted by EPA over the past four years, would also cause immense and unnecessary strain to businesses that are desperately trying to keep workers on the payroll.”

The legal action referenced by the letter is the U.S. Supreme Court’s Jan. 8 announcement that it will review the SRE ruling made by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2020.

The letter also references the EPA’s decision in September to reject several “gap year” SRE petitions that small refiners had filed in an effort to circumvent the Tenth Circuit Court ruling by creating a continuous chain of blending exemptions.

The letter is signed by Reps. Rodney Davis, R-Ill.; Angie Craig, D-Minn.; Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.; Adrian Smith, R-Neb.; Cindy Axne, D-Iowa; Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa; Darin LaHood, R-Ill.; Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa; Mike Bost, R-Ill.; Mariannette Miller-Meeks. R-Iowa; Cheri Bustos, D-Ill.; Ron Kind, D-Wisc.; Jackie Walorski, R-Ind.; Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.; Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn.; Don Bacon, R-Neb.; Ann Wagner, R-Mo.; Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn.; Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.; Same Graves, R-Mo.; Tom Emmer, R-Minn.; Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo.; and Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.

The Renewable Fuels Association has spoken out to thank the 23 representatives for supporting the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The RFA, Advanced Biofuels Business Council, Fuels America, Growth Energy, the National Biodiesel Board, the National Corn Growers Association, and the National Farmers Union also issued a joint statement on Jan. 13 condemning rumors of last-minute RFS waivers. READ MORE