July 2023 Denial of Petitions for RFS Small Refinery Exemptions
Summary
On July 14, 2023, EPA announced its action denying 26 petitions from small refineries seeking small refinery exemptions (SREs) from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program for one or more of the compliance years between 2016 and 2023.
Consistent with the April and July 2022 Denials of Petitions for RFS Small Refinery Exemptions, the action announced today applies EPA’s current interpretation of the Clean Air Act SRE provisions, consistent with a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit holding in Renewable Fuels Association et al. v. EPA. The Tenth Circuit held that SREs may only be granted when a small refinery’s hardship is caused by compliance with the RFS program. After reviewing more than a decade of RFS market data and confidential information submitted by petitioning small refineries, EPA concluded that none of the 26 SRE petitions demonstrated disproportionate economic hardship caused by compliance with the RFS program.
This decision is a final Agency action.
History
Additional Resources
- Notice of July 2023 Denial of Petitions for Small Refinery Exemptions Under the Renewable Fuel Standard Program (pdf) (117 KB, published July 20, 2023)
- July 2023 Denial of Petitions for RFS Small Refinery Exemption (pdf) (268 KB, July 2023, EPA-420-R-23-007)