The National Biodiesel Board sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler highlighting the economic damage caused by small refinery waivers.

The biodiesel and renewable diesel industry have been hit hard by the retroactive small refinery exemptions under the Renewable Fuels Standard that the EPA has given out in recent years.

At issue in the letter is Wheeler’s recent comments that the approval of year-round E15 sales will make up for the economic damage done by the exemptions.

 

“The E15 waivers will not provide growth for biodiesel and renewable diesel, but small refinery exemptions have had a detrimental impact on demand for those fuels,” the NBB says in its letter.

“EPA is required to repair the demand destruction for biodiesel and renewable diesel resulting from the agency’s flood of unwarranted retroactive small refinery exemptions.”

 

The NBB says when they compare the size of the exempted refiners to biodiesel producers, the threat to agriculture is easier to understand.

The University of Illinois says the demand destruction for biodiesel and renewable diesel could reach 2.45 billion gallons.

The economic loss could reach $7.7 billion in the next few years.