EPA Decision Overdue on Small Refinery Renewable Fuel Exemption

The Environmental Protection Agency must decide by Jan. 3 whether to grant a small refinery an economic hardship exemption from renewable fuel obligations, a federal court said.

“EPA has violated its non-discretionary duty to comply with the 90-day deadline to decide hardship petitions in the past and fails to do so here,” Judge Brian Morris of the US District Court for the District of Montana said Tuesday.

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to establish annual, nationally applicable volume targets for each of four categories of renewable fuel. Refiners have to comply with the standards for blending renewable fuel ...