Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued decisions on Small Refinery Exemption (SRE) petitions pending for the 2025 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) compliance year. American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings issued the following statement in response:
“American farmers continue to struggle to make ends meet, while oil refineries are posting record profits. In this context, it does not make sense to exempt any refiners from blending low-cost renewable fuels into their outrageously expensive petroleum products. Nevertheless, we appreciate that EPA is taking steps to reallocate the exempt volume to non-exempt refiners and look forward to seeing that promise fulfilled. Until reallocation is final and complete, every exempted gallon is an economic drain on rural America.
“The integrity of the RFS depends on ensuring volume obligations translate into real-world demand. Any gap between required volumes and actual blending undermines the program and creates uncertainty for ethanol producers, farmers and rural communities. ACE, along with others in the biofuel industry, has spent significant time defending the RFS and ensuring proper limits on SRE authority through federal circuit and Supreme Court decisions. Any effort to weaken the specific criteria dictated by the courts is troubling, and we will be monitoring any such efforts by DOE.
“SRE controversy has essentially hijacked efforts in the Senate to finally adopt legislation simply allowing retailers nationwide to sell low-cost E15 to their customers year-round. Given EPA’s actions today, we once again call on the Senate to work in a bipartisan way to get E15 legislation over the finish line this year.
“Finally, EPA has the authority to set volumes that require more than 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuels annually. We encourage EPA to seriously consider higher volumes in Set 3 to account for any negative impact from SRE gallons not being fully reallocated and for potential E15 increases.”