WASHINGTON, D.C.—Growth Energy, the nation’s largest biofuel trade association, issued the following statement today in response to an SRE decision from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
“With more than 140 granted refinery exemptions, today’s [SRE] decision alone does not give farmers and biofuel producers the certainty they need,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “It is imperative that EPA reallocates each and every exempt gallon in a forthcoming rule to mitigate the potentially devastating impact on biofuel demand. We appreciate EPA’s commitment to issue a rule that ensures promised homegrown biofuel gallons reach the marketplace and upholds the administration’s commitment to American energy dominance.”
Learn more about the RFS here.
Background
Under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets the number of gallons of renewable fuels (such as biofuels) that must be blended into the nation’s total fuel supply each year. Those obligations apply to fuel producers (petroleum refiners) and importers. The law also allows EPA to grant small refinery exemptions (SREs) in rare circumstances when a refiner demonstrates “disproportionate economic hardship” in its efforts to comply with the RFS.
Today, the EPA released its decision on 175 pending SRE petitions, covering compliance years 2016-2024. In all, EPA approved a total of 140 petitions: 63 full exemptions and 77 partial (50%) exemptions.
EPA also announced that it would release a supplemental proposal to its proposed Set 2 RVO to reallocate exempt SRE gallons from 2023-2025 compliance years to the 2026 and 2027 compliance years covered by Set 2. Under this approach, refiners will be required to make up for lost gallons from those years, ensuring that SREs don’t compromise renewable fuel demand.
Growth Energy and other rural leaders are calling on the agency to reallocate 100 percent of lost gallons, thus protecting the rural economy from demand destruction.