Growth Energy challenges EPA decision on SREs

In Washington, Growth Energy filed petitions for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to excuse certain refineries from their obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In a decision announced this April, EPA reversed 31 small refinery exemptions (SREs) it had previously granted for the 2018 compliance year but declined to hold affected refiners accountable for meeting any blending obligations for that year. Instead, EPA crafted a novel ‘alternative compliance’ approach that excused these refiners from ever having to comply with their 2018 blending obligations. In June, EPA reaffirmed this approach when it excused additional refiners whose petitions for 2016 and 2017 SREs it denied for the first time.