Chad Smith, NAFB News Service

The Environmental Protection Agency said last week it proposes to extend refiner deadlines to prove compliance with biofuel laws. Reuters says the agency is signaling that it won’t decide on many of the pending waiver requests submitted by the industry. It’s mixed news for refiners who’ve been hit hard by the slump in energy demand during COVID-19 and are looking to decrease regulatory costs associated with the U.S. biofuel blending policy. It’s also one of the final actions the EPA will take before President Trump leaves office on January 20. The agency will propose to extend the compliance deadline for 2019 biofuel blending obligations to November 30, 2021. The EPA will move the 2020 deadlines to January 31, 2022, and June 1, 2022. Refiners must turn in their credits to the EPA every year to prove they’ve complied with the annual biofuel blending obligations for the previous calendar year. The EPA also says it won’t take a position on the availability of 2019 small refinery waivers, which can exempt oil refiners from their obligations to blend biofuels into the nation’s fuel supply. The decision is related to the pending litigation on the waiver program.