NEW YORK: The Trump administration is expected to grant waivers to some oil refiners that would exempt them from requirements to blend biofuels into their fuel mix for the 2019 compliance year, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The move would be one of the last actions by President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency to seek to balance the competing desires of the biofuel and oil industries over biofuel blending laws. The decision, however, would be a blow to the biofuel industry and corn producers that say the exemptions hurt demand for their products, though the oil industry rejects that claim.
EPA did not respond to requests for comment, though a high-ranking EPA official acknowledged the agency is weighing the decision.
The announcement could come as early as this week, one of the sources said, and would apply to some exemptions for the 2019 compliance year. There are currently 32 pending petitions for the 2019 compliance year, according to EPA’s website.
Under the US Renewable Fuel Standard, refiners must blend billions of gallons of biofuels like corn-based ethanol into their fuel mix, or buy credits from those that do. Refiners can apply for exemptions if they can prove the obligations would cause them financial harm.
The Trump administration has dramatically ramped up the number of such exemptions granted to the industry - angering biofuel producers.
Last year a decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals cast doubt over the waiver program after it ruled that EPA can grant the so-called Small Refinery Exemptions only to facilities that have received them continuously each year since 2010.
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