U.S. refining trade group pushes EPA to change biofuels program

Avante

04/08/2016 22:28

By Ayesha Rascoe 
    WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - An oil refining group on 
Thursday asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to 
change the way it enforces the country's biofuel mandate, 
stepping up pressure on the agency to alter the program. 
    The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) 
filed a petition urging the EPA to move the responsibility for 
complying with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) further 
downstream in the refining and distribution process. 
    "This is an administrative petition that we're filing to try 
to make the program better until Congress can step in and do 
what really needs to be done and that is repeal the program," 
AFPM President Chet Thompson told Reuters. 
    Thompson called the petition a "reasonable step" that would 
make the program "far more equitable." 
    AFPM and other oil and gas groups have long been opposed to 
the RFS, which sets the amounts of biofuels such as ethanol that 
must be blended into U.S. gasoline and diesel supplies annually. 
    They argue the mandates are costly for refiners and do not 
reflect actual gasoline demand, which has not risen as fast as 
lawmakers originally envisioned. 
    The RFS, which is managed by the EPA, currently requires oil 
refiners and importers to show they are blending ethanol and 
other renewable fuels with gasoline and diesel.  
    AFPM is asking that EPA make the owners of fuel at loading 
racks responsible for showing the mandated biofuels were 
blended. 
    AFPM's petition follows a similar request filed by Valero 
Energy Corp  VLO.N  in June.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1951VF 
    Oil refiners and importers are required to prove compliance 
with the renewable fuel mandate by either blending biofuels or 
buying paper credits, known as RINs, from companies that are in 
compliance. 
    Companies like fuel retailers, which blend fuels, benefit 
from selling RINs to obligated parties. Their profits from RIN 
sales could soar this year as prices of the credits have jumped 
to highs not seen since 2013 on supply worries due to more 
ambitious targets for biofuels.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1AI0W3 
    EPA has repeatedly indicated that it would consider changing 
the obligated parties if it became clear the RIN market was not 
functioning as it should, Thompson said. 
    "The cost of RINs today is over a dollar, it's pretty clear 
that the RIN market is not working," he said. "We're calling EPA 
out on its own promise, to reconsider it when the time was 
right." 
 
 (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe) 
 ((ayesha.rascoe@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter @ayesharascoe; 
202-898-8392; Reuters Messaging: 
ayesha.rascoe.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: USA BIOFUELS/REFINERIES