Oil refiners could be outed in quest to avoid biofuel quotas

Bloomberg

The Trump administration is weighing a plan that could force some of the nation’s biggest oil companies to come clean about their bids to dodge US biofuel mandates.
The Environmental Protection Agency said in a notice it was opening a 15-day window for the public to comment on whether it should reveal “basic information” about refineries seeking waivers from annual biofuel quotas, including the names of the companies and facilities seeking the exemptions.
For years, the agency has kept those details private, claiming they are confidential business information. A surge in waivers, including some issued to refineries connected to major oil companies, has spurred complaints from biofuel advocates demanding more transparency. If oil companies “aren’t willing to put their names on waiver requests claiming that they can’t fairly compete in their markets, even as they are reporting record high profitability, then they shouldn’t submit them.” Gene Gebolys, the president of World Energy Alternatives LLC, said in an email.
Under federal law, the EPA can exempt small refineries using no more than 75,000 barrels of crude per day from annual biofuel quotas if they face a “disproportionate economic hardship.” The exemptions were automatically granted to a slew of small refineries initially, but the agency now makes decisions on a case-by-case basis, guided by an Energy Department’s economic analysis of each petition.