Midwestern Senators Strike Back on RFS

Recently, the Trump Administration used its waiver authority under the RFS to exempt several small refiners from their renewable volume obligations (RVOs) which in turn has dampened ethanol RIN values. The EPA has the authority to grant exemptions from the program to refineries with a capacity under 75,000 barrels per day if the company can demonstrate financial hardship. Twenty-five exemptions have already been granted this year with possibly more to come.

In response, five Senators fired off a letter to the EPA Administration on April 9 urging the EPA to halt the exemptions because it undermined the intent of the RFS. The letter stated, “The granting of waivers for 2016 RVOs have effectively reduced the 2016 requirement of 15 billion gallons to 13.8 billion gallons.” Click here to read the letter.

Additionally, last week, 13 Midwestern senators called on EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to stop granting small refiners exemptions from their RFS obligations, stating that the waivers could severely hurt the market for biofuels for years to come. In addition, the Senators called for transparency in the waiver process and told EPA to notify Congress in two weeks with the list of refineries that have been granted waivers, the reasons for granting the waivers, and to commit to granting waivers only during the annual RVO rulemaking process. Click here to read the letter.

PMAA continues to be concerned that small business petroleum marketers will be placed in a precarious situation if E15 starts to take hold because of the potential economic impacts of adding E15 including the costs associated with existing UST system incompatibility.