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EPA head acknowledges issues with ‘gap year’ SRE requests

EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, in a conference call with reporters this week, acknowledged there are issues surrounding the so-called “gap year” small refinery exemption requests.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, there’s a number of issues around that,” Wheeler said. “Some of these petitions go back to 2012. RINs from that year are no longer active—they’ve expired—so there’s questions about whether or not they can show economic harm and what the remedy would be. But we’re waiting to see what the Department of Energy has to say about the small refinery exemptions.”

DOE has to review the petitions as the first step in the SRE application process.  Wheeler did not indicate when he expected the DOE review to be complete.