The U.S. EPA released updated small refinery exemption (SRE) data on Oct. 15, reporting two additional SRE petitions have been filed for Renewable Fuel Standard compliance year 2019. No other changes were made to the agency’s SRE data.

According to the EPA’s SRE data dashboard, there are currently 52 SRE petitions pending, including 31 SRE petitions pending for compliance year 2019, up from 29 that had been pending as of Sept. 17. There are also four petitions pending for compliance year 2020, two pending for compliance year 2018, one pending for compliance year 2016, three pending for compliance year 2015, four pending for compliance year 2014, three pending for compliance year 2013, two pending for compliance year 2012, and two pending for compliance year 2011.

The EPA denied 54 gap year SRE petitions in September and is expected to deny additional gap year petitions once the required analyses are completed by the U.S. Department of Energy and delivered to the agency. Gap year filings are those filed by small refineries for past compliance years in an effort to circumvent a January 2020 ruling by Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals that determined the agency cannot extend SREs to any small refinery whose earlier, temporary exemptions had lapsed. The gap year petitions aim to provide a refinery with a continuous chain of SRE approvals, allowing the impacted refineries to continue to be eligible for future exemptions to their biofuel blending requirements.

Additional data is available on the U.S. EPA website.