EPA批准小型炼厂生物燃料豁免申请

Core Viewpoint - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a majority of the backlog of small refinery exemptions for biofuel regulations, raising concerns in the biofuel industry about potential demand impacts [1] Group 1: EPA Approval Details - The EPA approved 63 full exemptions and 77 partial exemptions, while rejecting 28 applications, clearing a backlog of 204 pending applications since 2016 [1] - The approved exemptions correspond to approximately 5.34 billion Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), which are compliance indicators for the U.S. biofuel blending policy [1] - Only 1.39 billion of the RINs have actual compliance value and can still be used for compliance purposes [1] Group 2: Industry Reactions - Growth Energy, representing the ethanol industry, has urged the EPA to balance the blending responsibilities by increasing obligations on other refineries, a process referred to as "responsibility redistribution" [1] - The CEO of Growth Energy, Emily Skor, emphasized the need for the EPA to redistribute every gallon of exempted volume to mitigate the potentially devastating impact on biofuel demand [1] Group 3: Market Impact - Following the announcement, the price of renewable fuel credits related to ethanol blending surged to over $1.16 per credit, up from $1.07 on the previous Thursday [1]