President Donald Trump has ordered the EPA to reject dozens of gap year small refinery exemptions.
This comes after farm and biofuel groups sent him a letter making the request.
The Renewable Fuels Association welcomes the news. “Hopefully, this puts an end to the nonsense that’s been going on with EPA, and just the haphazard granting of these small refinery exemptions, and we know how devastating those previous waivers, that have been granted by EPA, have been on our market,” Geoff Cooper, the president and CEO, states. “We’ve seen more than four billion gallons of RFS requirements erased because of those exemptions, and this decision would have political implications, I think it would improve the President’s standing with some voters in the Midwest, who are frustrated by the lack of action and decisive measures on some of these issues.”
Oil groups say that they need the waivers, arguing the pandemic pushed the industry over the edge while it was already battling lower demand.