WASHINGTON, D.C. – Growth Energy submitted comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in response to the petitions from refiners and oil states to waive renewable fuel blending obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for the 2019 and 2020 compliance years.
The petitioners claim that the alleged negative economic impacts caused by COVID-19, the Tenth Circuit’s small refinery exemption (SRE) decision last year, and, in their view, the high cost of RINs, entitle refiners to a waiver of their obligations because compliance with the RFS would cause “severe economic harm.”
As Growth Energy notes in its comment response, these refiners and oil states claims run counter to how the RFS is supposed to work and are far from meeting the narrow conditions under which such waivers have been and should be granted.
Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor stated that “many industries, including the biofuels industry, are suffering from the drop in transportation fuel demand brought on by the pandemic. The petitioners’ misguided and misleading attempt to frame the severe economic harm waiver in terms that would selectively and unfairly benefit the oil industry at the expense of America’s biofuels and agriculture producers should be roundly and swiftly rejected by the EPA.”
Click here for Skor’s full response to EPA and here for supporting documents.