A Reuters report says the Environmental Protection Agency has awarded tens of millions of dollars’ worth of biofuel blending credits for this year to refiners HollyFrontier and Sinclair Oil. Two sources tell Reuters the refiners argued that the agency had wrongly denied them waivers from the country’s biofuels law as far back as 2014.
It’s likely to add fuel to the fire in the ongoing dispute between oil refiners and the renewable fuels industry over the future of America’s biofuels policy by opening the door to similar challenges in the future. The EPA’s move may put even more pressure on credit prices, which have plummeted to five-year lows as the agency has expanded the small refinery waiver program.
The EPA gave Hollyfrontier nearly $34 million worth of credits to reverse a denial for one of its Wyoming plants that dated back to 2015. The agency also gave undisclosed millions more to Sinclair for two of its facilities in the state for both 2014 and 2015.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.