The U.S. EPA on Feb. 22 announced its now supports the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeal’s January 2020 ruling on small refinery exemptions (SREs). Representatives of the U.S. biofuels decision are applauding the agency’s new position.
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on Jan. 24, 2020, issued a ruling that struck down three SREs that the court said were improperly issued by the EPA and held that the agency cannot “extend” exemptions to any small refineries whose earlier, temporary exemptions had lapsed. The court also held that any alleged hardship justifying an SRE must be caused by Renewable Fuel Standard compliance and that the EPA had acted arbitrarily and capriciously by deviating without acknowledgement or stated reason from its prior position that refineries generally do not incur disproportionate economic hardship from purchasing renewable identification numbers (RINs) on the open market because the refineries “pass through most or all of their RIN purchase costs” to their customers. More >>
Select Page