EPA Acting Administrator reveals two billion RINs granted

by | Jul 12, 2018 | 5 Ag Stories, News

The new head of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not making Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley happy. The issue is small refinery waivers and the names of those granted.

The Agency sent a letter that the senator calls non-disclosure, disclosure…as no names were released. But, the letter does indicate almost every application was approved for two years.

Senator Grassley and eleven other senators sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency in April, asking for the names of all refineries receiving a hardship exemption for blending ethanol and therefore, awarding them RIN credits. This week, EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler responded to the letter, but his disclosure was far from what the senators expected.

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It appears former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt kept a close relationship with the oil industry, as his agency approved almost every application that was submitted. Acting Administrator Wheeler?s letter, released by the Office of Senator Grassley, shows 19 of 20 petitions were approved in the 2016 compliance year for a total of 790 million RINs. In 2017, the agency approved 29 of 33 petitions, with four still in process. Total RINs for the year amounts to 1.496 billion.

Senator Grassley had this to say….

?The idea that disclosing to Congress the names of waiver recipients somehow reveals confidential business information doesn?t make any sense and isn?t acceptable. Providing Congress with the names of recipients wouldn?t reveal any details about their operations or finances. It?s a necessary first step to making sure the law is being followed. We already know many of the companies that have received so-called hardship waivers through news reports, likely because many of the companies have a financial interest in making that information public or have an obligation to their shareholders to do so. I appreciate finally receiving a response within days of acting Administrator Wheeler taking the reins at EPA, but this non-answer is disappointing.

EPA?s acknowledgment that only one waiver applicant has been denied in the past couple years raises questions about the legitimacy of the process. The agency seems to be using a rubber stamp to help Big Oil skirt the law. EPA?s implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard law isn?t above congressional oversight. No government agency and no law is.?

The Senator went on to say that he planned on discussing this issue with Acting Administrator Wheeler soon, and hopes the Agency is more forthcoming under his leadership than his predecessor?s.