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RFA slams GAO report on small refinery exemptions

The head of the Renewable Fuels Association says a recent report examining the EPA’s decision-making on small refinery exemptions favors oil refiners.

In 2019, bipartisan members of the House Biofuels Caucus asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct a formal investigation into the process behind granting SRE waivers.

RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper says the report is fundamentally flawed.

“GAO used some pretty creative math and statistical analysis to suggest that small refineries somehow pay more for RFS credits than bigger refineries do,” Cooper said. “And then they said those small refineries can’t pass along all of their costs to fuel blenders like the big refiners can.”

But, Cooper tells Brownfield RFA agrees with the agency’s finding that waivers reduce demand for renewable fuel.

“If you’re not going to require refiners to blend ethanol, they are probably not going to do it since it’s not their product,” Cooper said. “We’ve been saying that all along for the last three or four years.”

GAO released the report on Thursday.