The Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday released its plan to change the Renewable Fuel Standard regarding small refinery exemptions.
However, biofuels proponents don’t approve of the changes.
The National Biodiesel Board says in a statement the notice “contains a never-before-discussed proposal to estimate small refinery exemptions, with no assurance that the estimate will come close to actual exemptions.”
The EPA says the notice does not change the proposed volumes for 2020 and 2021.
Instead, it proposes and seeks comment on adjustments to the way annual renewable fuel percentages are calculated.
Specifically, the agency is seeking comment on projecting the volume of gasoline and diesel that will be exempt in 2020 due to small refinery exemptions based on a three-year average of the relief recommended by the Department of Energy.
However, Renewable Fuels Association CEO Geoff Cooper called the terms of the announcement baffling, because the proposal uses “the very same DOE recommendations that EPA blatantly ignored over and over.”
The EPA will hold a public forum on October 30, 2019.
