Illinois representative introduces bill to regulate fairness in EPA’s hardship waiver policies

In Washington, U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) introduced the Small Refinery Exemption Fairness Act of 2019 after the EPA continues to increase the number of small refineries exempted from the Renewable Fuel Standard. Davis’ bipartisan bill would require the EPA Administrator to use the average number of Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs) granted in the previous three calendar years when formulating the Renewable Volumes Obligations (SVO) for an upcoming year.

Requiring the EPA to use realistic estimates of the number of SREs they will grant rather than stating they plan to grant zero when calculating their annual RVO will give industry some degree of certainty and effectively relocate some of the lost gallons that were detrimental to the renewable fuels industry when, most recently, the EPA announced that they had granted 31 SREs. In an effort to incentivize the agency to issue fewer exemptions, his bill does not set a minimum number of waivers that the EPA should grant.