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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Sinclair Oil Corporation waivers that exempt both its refineries in Wyoming from biofuel blending requirements for the 2019 compliance year, two sources familiar with the matter said, making it the only company to have received exemptions for that year so far.
FILE PHOTO: E85 ethanol fuel is shown being pumped into a vehicle at a gas station selling alternative fuels in the town of Nevada, Iowa, December 6, 2007. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo
The EPA had announced it granted two 2019 waivers to refining facilities on Tuesday night, hours before the departure of the administration of President Donald Trump, but did not identify the recipients. Some 30 other waiver applications for that year remained unanswered.
In response to an emergency motion filed Tuesday evening by the Renewable Fuels Association, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today ordered that E
2. RFA Files Petition, Motion to Halt Last-Second EPA Refinery Exemptions The Renewable Fuels Association said yesterday it filed a petition for review and an emergency motion to halt exemptions granted to refineries Tuesday with less than 24 hours left in the Trump administration, which allows the refiners to forego renewable fuels standard requirements. “The waivers issued by EPA Tuesday evening are completely without legal merit, and we took action immediately to prevent the agency from doing further economic damage to an industry already reeling from the impacts of (COVID-19),” the RFA said. The Renewable Fuel Standard requires refiners to blend ethanol and other biofuels into their fuels or buy credits from companies that do.
(Renewable Fuels Association) In response to an emergency motion filed Tuesday evening by the Renewable Fuels Association, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today ordered that EPA’s action on Tuesday to grant three small refinery petitions must be “administratively stayed pending further order of the court.”
The order prevents EPA from further processing the small refinery exemptions, at least until the court has had “sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion for stay.” EPA has until February 3 to respond to the motion, and any replies are due to the court by February 10.
The stay comes roughly 36 hours after EPA approved two 2019 waiver petitions and one 2018 petition, which if allowed to stand would erase another 260 million gallons of Renewable Fuel Standard blending requirements.
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