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Biofuels coalition challenges EPA’s latest refinery waivers
Attorneys for six farm and biofuel organizations filed papers Monday challenging 31 Small Refinery Exemptions granted by the EPA. The pro-ethanol coalition says EPA lacked the authority to issue the exemptions and that it acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.
The legal briefs represent the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, the National Corn Growers Association, National Biodiesel Board, American Coalition for Ethanol, and National Farmers Union.
Four of the six biofuels supporters won a decision from the same court earlier this year with similar circumstances. The 10th District Circuit Court panel confirmed that the only small refineries that are “eligible for extensions are ones that submitted meritorious hardship petitions each year. Biofuels leaders say only seven small refineries still held exemptions as of 2015, so at least twenty-four of the thirty-one small refinery exemptions EPA granted for 2018 had to be invalid. The coalition says EPA Assistant Administrator Anne Idsal granted all 31 of the 2018 refiner requests in a single ruling without justification. The biofuels coalition is asking the Court to vacate EPA’s decision to grant thirty-one small refinery exemption petitions for the compliance year 2018 and order EPA to restore the corresponding volumes of renewable fuel in the next compliance year.
