News

RFA and Growth Energy file federal suit against EPA seeking answers

The Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy are going to new lengths to force the EPA to disclose information related to oil refinery waivers.

RFA executive vice president Geoff Cooper says the two ethanol advocacy organizations have filed a lawsuit in federal district court after an April Freedom of Information request to the EPA and Department of Energy fell on deaf ears.

“We didn’t hear anything back, and we asked them again for the information and didn’t hear anything back.  So they’ve continued to stonewall us and ignore our requests for what we think is pretty basic, pretty fundamental information.”

He tells Brownfield the EPA needs to explain its thought-process in granting waivers to an industry that seems to be doing fine financially.

“How did these refiners demonstrate that they are being economically harmed by the RFS?  Which is the criteria for receiving these exemptions.”

Cooper says he also wants to know which refineries received exemptions.

Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor (score) says the EPA should come clean and provide the public a full accounting of the stark increase in small refinery waivers granted this year.