GILLETTE, Wyo. — Wyoming’s U.S. Senators, Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso, joined eight Senate Republican colleagues in asking Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to explain the department’s process for vetting and approving Wyoming’s small refinery exemptions to the renewable fuel standard.
According to a news release from Lummis’s office, the letter reads: “On November 3, 2022, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report titled, ‘Renewable Fuel Standard: Actions Needed to Improve Decision-Making in the Small Refinery Exemption Program.’ This GAO report examined the policies and procedures of both the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for small refinery exemption decisions. Given the shortcomings identified in that GAO report, we write to express our strong concerns regarding the DOE’s role in scoring petitions filed under the small refinery exemption program in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and to inquire about the steps DOE plans to take to remedy these shortcomings.”
Lummis said EPA Administrator Michael Reagan has doubled down on EPA actions against Wyoming’s small refineries despite the GAO report and repeated requests for reconsiderations regarding exemptions to the renewable fuel standard.
“This will cost the people of Wyoming thousands of jobs as well as raise energy costs for people across the country,” Lummis said.
Barrasso said small refineries play a critical role in supplying Wyoming families and businesses with energy.
“By denying relief from the Environmental Protection Agency’s crushing ethanol mandate, the president is making it clear he wants to put these small refineries out of business,” he said. “It is past time the administration corrects the gross mismanagement of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program to provide immediate relief to small refineries and help lower gas prices for the people of Wyoming.”
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 created the renewable fuel standard, and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 extended and expanded it. The acts are supposed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. Department of Energy said.
The EPA created an exemption for small refineries that prove they’re experiencing a disproportionate economic hardship.
Wyoming’s four operational refineries are within the parameters of the small refinery exemption and would be hurt if the EPA doesn’t grant them exemptions, according to the release.
In December 2021, the EPA attempted to block all pending SRE requests, and in January 2022 Lummis sent a letter to Reagan citing concerns for the new approach to SRE petitions.
