About 2.6 Billion Gallons of Biofuels Now Exempted From RFS Requirements

The EPA granted five additional 2017 small-refinery exemptions (SREs) to the Renewable Fuel Standard on Thursday, raising the agency total for that year to 34, according to an update posted to EPA's online dashboard. The dashboard also indicates it has two more waiver requests pending for that year. Ethanol industry interests, farmers and federal lawmakers were hopeful the agency would change the way it considered waivers under new Administrator Andrew Wheeler. The 2017 waiver requests were made during former Administrator Scott Pruitt's tenure.Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said during a news conference that the agency's latest actions would serve as a "bellwether" for how the EPA would handle waiver requests going forward and Thursday's decision would be an "important indication" of where Wheeler stands.