NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Paul Winters
202-737-8801
pwinters@biodiesel.org
WASHINGTON, DC - The National Biodiesel Board
(NBB) today welcomed President Trump's decision not to join an appeal of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit's ruling in Renewable Fuels Association v. EPA.
The Court's January decision invalidated three small refinery exemptions that
the Environmental Protection Agency granted retroactively for the 2016
Renewable Fuel Standards, ruling they were not extensions of existing
exemptions as required by the language of the law. The 10th Circuit Court
further stated that EPA unlawfully considered factors outside the RFS and
ignored evidence that refiners recoup any cost to comply with the program.
Although
several petroleum refiners requested an en
banc rehearing by the Circuit Court, NBB expects EPA to consider
all pending 2019 exemption petitions in a manner consistent with the nationwide
application of the 10th Circuit's decision.
Kurt
Kovarik, NBB's Vice President of Federal Affairs, said, "NBB and its
members greatly appreciate President Trump's commitment to support the
biodiesel industry and the Renewable Fuel Standard. Last October, the President
directed EPA to mitigate the damage to the industry and the RFS from small
refinery exemptions. EPA should put an end to the unwarranted expansion of
small refinery exemptions.
"EPA's
small refinery exemptions destroyed demand for hundreds of millions of gallons
of biodiesel and renewable diesel over the past three years. Producers are
still struggling to regain momentum and growth; a handful of facilities remain
closed after shutting down last year. The industry is also facing the economic
impacts of the coronavirus and the threat to U.S. energy security from foreign
countries flooding the markets with cheap oil. Applying the Court's ruling
nationwide would eliminate an unnecessary ongoing challenge for the
industry."
Beginning
with the 2016 RFS obligations, EPA rapidly expanded the number of small
refinery exemptions. The agency granted exemptions to 85 small refineries over
three years, excusing 38.3 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel from the RFS
obligations. That action destroyed demand for more than 4 billion gallons of
renewable fuel, including advanced biofuels such as biodiesel, renewable
diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel. In a supplement to the 2020 RFS rule,
EPA acknowledged that it must account for the exempted volumes in order to
ensure that RFS volumes are met, as Congress intended.
Made
from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil,
soybean oil and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel
replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines without modification.
It is the nation's first domestically produced, commercially available advanced
biofuel. NBB is the U.S. trade association representing the entire biodiesel
and renewable diesel value chain, including producers, feedstock suppliers, and
fuel distributors.
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For more about biodiesel, visit www.biodiesel.org.