Letter to Andrew Wheeler, Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency - Grassley, Ernst, Midwest Colleagues Call on EPA to Protect the Integrity of the RFS

Letter

Dear Administrator Wheeler,

Alarming new reports indicate that your Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may issue
numerous pending small refinery exemptions (SREs) which would be a devastating blow to
biofuel producers and the farmers who sell to them. We urge you to not take such action.
It comes as no surprise that these new reports scare biofuel producers across the Midwest.
Ethanol and biodiesel plants that are already struggling to cope with the economic fallout of the
COVID-19 pandemic are at risk of closing their doors, cutting off key markets for farmers. Many
biofuel plants have already been forced to shutter their doors over the past four years.

Eliminating more demand for biofuels at this time may be the death knell for many more.
On November 2, 2020, you stated that "it would be inappropriate for me to either grant or
deny them until that litigation has completely run its course." This was taken as an indication
EPA would not adjudicate any more SRE applications until the courts have spoken, definitively.
Granting additional SREs at this time would be inconsistent with the unanimous Tenth Circuit
ruling in Renewable Fuels Association et. al. v. EPA. We therefore implore you to summarily
freeze any decisions on the pending SREs until the Supreme Court has ruled.

Sincerely

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