The National Biodiesel Board delivered a letter to Andrew Wheeler, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, asking for transparency on small refinery exemption petitions the agency received before 2019.
“The U.S. biodiesel and renewable diesel industry values and relies on your commitment to transparency regarding small refinery exemptions,” says the NBB in the letter, referring to Wheeler creating the EPA Small Refinery Exemption Dashboard.
However, both Wheeler and an Undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Energy responded to questions about “gap” petitions during Senate committee testimony. The NBB says, “it’s concerning that no record of any of these petitions exists on the Agency’s dashboard. Gap filings would render the program entirely unpredictable for renewable fuel producers.”
Kurt Kovarik, NBB Vice President of Federal Affairs, says, “EPA’s small refinery exemption sprees over the past three years undermined the RFS and destroyed demand for hundreds of millions of gallons of biodiesel. We’re asking Administrator Wheeler to restore confidence in the RFS.”
