August 3, 2026
Maps Out Process for Future SRE Decisions & Implementation
On Aug. 3, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued decisions on 6 petitions from small refineries for exemptions from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2023 and 2024. EPA is granting the following:
- Full (100 percent) exemptions: 1 petition
- Granting partial (50 percent) exemptions: 2 petitions
- Denying: 0 petitions
- Declaring Ineligible: 3 petitions
The exemptions granted apply only to the 2024 compliance year and total 160 million exempted Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) RINs; no exempted volume was awarded for 2023, where both petitions considered were the ineligible ones.
RINs to be Returned, Not Reissued
For refineries that already retired RINs to demonstrate 2024 compliance before receiving their exemption, EPA is returning those RINs rather than issue new-vintage RINs. According to EPA, this approach is consistent with its practice in the August and November 2025 SRE actions and upheld in the Ninth Circuit Court’s Kern Oil decision, and avoids flooding the RIN market with newly created credits that affect prices and stunt biofuel investment.
Why Three Petitions Were Rejected Outright
EPA determined that two refineries – which together filed three of the six petitions – did not qualify to seek an exemption at all, regardless of hardship. Small refineries must stay under a 75,000-barrel-per-day average daily crude throughput cap in the specific year for which they seek relief. EPA found one refinery exceeded that cap in 2023, and a second exceeded it in both 2023 and 2024, making both years’ petitions ineligible rather than denied on hardship grounds.
Foundation for Future SRE Decisions & Implementation
More importantly, EPA articulated how it made the decisions on the 6 applications, providing more clarity on how it will consider remaining and future waiver applications. Generally, EPA will:
- Assess eligibility, including the average aggregate daily throughput.
- Use the matrix from the Department of Energy (DOE) Small Refinery Study to determine whether the small refinery is experiencing economic hardship, and to what degree.
- Consider other economic factors in the broader context of the refining industry and the RFS.
- If waiver is warranted, determine whether partial or full based on DOE data.
- Then, issue decisions.
For those small refineries receiving waivers, EPA will implement the waiver by returning any RINs retired for the applicable compliance year, and waiving the need to meet the RVO for that year.
EPA detailed definitions, process and legal authority for this process in a 26-page document issued concurrently with today’s announcement of the waiver decisions.