WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today issued the following statement on EPA’s official position, restated as recently as November 2017 that, “high RIN prices do not cause significant harm to refiners.” Grassley also commented on a previously unreleased letter that he, along with Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), wrote in January 2018 asking EPA about its previous assessments that RIN prices do not affect the success of refiners. EPA has yet to respond to the senators’ letter, despite numerous staff follow-ups.
“We are told that action needs to be taken to lower RIN prices to help refiners. But under both Democratic and Republican administrations, EPA has found that RIN prices don’t affect whether refiners are successful or not,” Grassley said. “That was true of President Obama’s EPA and it’s true of President Trump’s EPA. Several of my colleagues and I asked EPA about this in light of calls to make changes to the RFS, but we’ve yet to receive a response. I’m always willing to engage in good faith discussions on any issue, but the facts need to be on the table. Changing the RFS based on misinformation and baseless arguments isn’t fair to the thousands of farmers and workers throughout rural America whose livelihoods would be harmed if the RFS were undermined.”
The EPA in November 2017 found (p. 198), “After reviewing the available data, EPA has concluded that refiners are generally able to recover the cost of RINs in the prices they receive for their refined products, and therefore high RIN prices do not cause significant harm to refiners.” In May 2015, EPA found (p. 22), “the obligated parties were generally able to recover this increase in the cost of meeting their RIN obligations in the price they received for their petroleum-based products in 2013.”
The full letter from the senators is available below and can also be found here.
January 11, 2018
The Honorable E. Scott Pruitt, Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
William Jefferson Clinton Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Administrator Pruitt,
As you are aware, we have been asked to participate in discussions with our Senate colleagues regarding the Renewable Fuel Standard. Specifically, our colleagues are working to construct policy options that would lower RIN prices for certain fuel refiners. In an effort to fully understand the perceived problem that we are being asked to address, it would be useful to have clarification from the Environmental Protection Agency on a number of topics to better understand the issues being discussed. We would respectfully request your help in addressing the following questions.
Thank you for your assistance in clarifying these matters.
Sincerely,
Sen. Charles Grassley
Sen. John Thune
Sen. Roy Blunt
Sen. Deb Fischer
Sen. Joni Ernst
[1] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Response to Comments: Renewable Fuel Standard Program: Standards for 2018 and Biomass-Based Diesel Volume for 2019, Proposed Rule, Nov. 30, 2017.
[2] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, A Preliminary Assessment of RIN Market Dynamics, RIN Prices, and Their Effects, May 14, 2015.
[3] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Response to Comments: Renewable Fuel Standard Program: Standards for 2018 and Biomass-Based Diesel Volume for 2019, Proposed Rule, Nov. 30, 2017.
[4] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, A Preliminary Assessment of RIN Market Dynamics, RIN Prices, and Their Effects, May 14, 2015.
[5] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, A Preliminary Assessment of RIN Market Dynamics, RIN Prices, and Their Effects, May 14, 2015.
-30-