EPA: 3 SRE petitions currently pending

The U.S. EPA on June 16 published updated data on small refinery exemptions (SREs) filed under the Renewable Fuel Standard, reporting that only three SRE petitions are currently pending, down from 69 that were pending as of mid-May.

The three pending SRE petitions include one each for compliance years 2016, 2017 and 2018, according to the EPA’s online SRE data dashboard. According to the data, no new SRE petitions were filed in the past month.

The EPA on June 3 took action to deny 69 pending SREs spanning compliance years 2016 through 2021. At that time, the agency said the denials were consistent with a decision issued in April denying 36 SRE petitions for compliance year 2018 and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit holding in Renewable Fuels Association et al. v. EPA. In that ruling, the court said SREs may only be granted when a small refinery’s hardship is caused by compliance with the RFS program.