A coalition representing biofuel producers, farmers, fuel retailers and fuel distribution companies on March 5 sent a letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging him to reject a petition filed by CVR Energy Inc. in late 2023 asking the agency to restructure the Renewable Fuel Standard’s renewable identification number (RIN) trading program.&nbsp;CVR Energy on Dec. 28, 2023, <a href="https://biomassmagazine.com/articles/small-refineries-petition-epa-to-restructure-its-rin-trading-program">sent a letter to Regan on behalf of two of its small refinery subsidiaries</a>—Coffeyville Resources Refining &amp; Marketing LLC and Wynnewood Refining Co. LLC—requesting the agency begin a rulemaking process to place limits on the parties who can participate in the RIN market. The petition claims that the current RIN trading program has led to market manipulation and increased fuel costs.&nbsp;The Renewable Fuels Association, National Farmers Union, National Association of Convenience Stores, NATSO and SIGMA are urging the EPA to reject the petition. In their March 5 letter, the groups call in EPA to promptly reject CVR Energy’s request, noting that the request is untimely, as the rules targeted by the petition were issued more than a decade ago. The letter also stresses that CVR Energy’s “contorted reading of the RFS’s enabling statutory provisions is devoid of context and ignores the broad discretion Congress granted EPA to create an efficient trading program for renewable fuel credits.” The letter also argues that the petitioners’ desired structure for the RIN market is contrary to RFS policy objectives, untenable in practice and legally unmoored from any objective reading of the enabling statute. The letter goes on to state that recent court rulings regarding eligibility for small refinery exemptions (SREs) “have nothing to do with the structure of the RIN market, and therefore provide no basis for revisiting EPA’s longstanding regulatory framework for generating and transferring RINs under the RFS.” Finally, the groups explain that CVR Energy’s desired outcome would increase fuel prices by eliminating fuel retailers’ ability to use RINs to lower the costs of goods sold, as they do today.&nbsp;“The existing RIN market structure, which has been in place since EPA finalized ‘RFS2’ regulations nearly 14 years ago, has worked effectively and efficiently to facilitate compliance with annual renewable volume obligations,” the organizations wrote in the March 5 letter. “Altering the structure of the RIN system would have disastrous impacts on renewable fuel producers, fuel marketers and retailers, obligated parties, and consumers in the form of higher prices at the pump. It would also significantly undermine the statutory purpose of the RFS.”A full copy of the letter is available on the RFA <a href="https://ethanolrfa.org/media-and-news/category/news-releases/article/2024/03/coalition-urges-epa-to-reject-petition-that-would-raise-gas-prices-and-undermine-rfs">website</a>.&nbsp;

2024-03-06 - Biofuel, ag groups urge EPA to reject petition to restructure RFS RIN trading  (3 publications)

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A coalition representing biofuel producers, farmers and others on March 5 sent a letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging him to reject a petition filed by CVR Energy Inc. asking the agency to restructure the RFS RIN trading program. 

Biofuel, ag groups urge EPA to reject petition to restructure RFS RIN trading

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