The U.S. EPA on Feb. 20 released updated small refinery exemption (SRE) data showing that 13 previously denied SRE petitions for Renewable Fuel Standard compliance years 2021 and 2022 are being reconsidered. No new SRE petitions were filed. 

According to the EPA’s SRE data dashboard, seven SRE petitions filed for compliance year 2021 and five SRE petitions filed for compliance year 2022 that were previously denied by the agency are once again pending.

There are currently 152 SRE petitions pending, up from 139 that were pending as of mid-January. The currently pending SRE petitions include two for compliance year 2016; one for compliance year 2017; 38 for compliance year 2018; 27 for compliance year 2019; 28 for compliance year 2020; 13 for compliance year 2021; 10 for compliance year 2022; 12 for compliance year 2023; 15 for compliance year 2024; and six for compliance year 2025.

The EPA’s online SRE data dashboard also includes data on small refineries that have opted into the agency’s alternative renewable identification number (RIN) retirement schedule for the 2020 compliance year. According to the EPA’s online data dashboard, 17 small refineries are participating in the alternative RIN retirement schedule, with the total renewable volume obligation (RVO) for those refineries at 880 million RINs. A total of 540 million RINs have been retired under the alternative retirement schedule as of Feb. 20. The total outstanding RVO is currently at 340 million RINs, according to EPA’s data dashboard.