Growth, RFA File Suits Against EPA Over August SRE Decisions
A pair of prominent ethanol industry groups each filed suits against the EPA in an appellate court in recent days over two batches of small refinery exemption (SRE) decisions the agency issued this summer under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association filed petitions for review in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on rulings that the EPA issued on Aug. 3 and Aug. 31, which had a combined impact of exempting certain small refineries from retiring 1.96 billion Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits.
The filings come after the EPA moved on Aug. 3 to rule on six SREs for the 2023 and 2024 compliance years, in which it determined three ineligible, partially granted two, and fully granted one.
And on Aug. 31, the agency moved to clear the remaining prior-year petitions under its docket in one fell swoop, in which EPA fully approved 18 petitions, partially approved 11, denied three, and ruled a further two ineligible.
To deal with the impact from those approvals, the EPA said it plans to propose by the end of October reallocating 100% of the difference between its projected and actual 2025 exemptions into the 2026 and 2027 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs).
And while a representative from Growth Energy said the group was “grateful” for that move on reallocation by the agency, it decided to file in the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday as “…the law sets a high bar for SREs and they should be exceedingly rare in the first place.”
“We intend to pursue every avenue available to our members, including this petition for review, to ensure that the RFS continues to deliver benefits to American farmers and consumers and that RVO gallons actually reach the market,” the representative said.
Meanwhile, Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), said in a statement that the group, which is currently still embroiled in a similar suit against the agency over decisions issued in August and November 2025, still intends on challenging this summer’s decisions “vigorously.”
“EPA’s own analyses show that RIN compliance costs are passed through to wholesale fuel buyers, meaning small refineries are not bearing a disproportionate burden,” Cooper said. “Congress never intended the SRE program to be a permanent entitlement for highly profitable oil refining companies.”
Cooper said the group’s new filing, which it sent in last Friday, “…ensures the August 2026 exemptions are properly preserved for judicial review while allowing the court to resolve the fundamental legal issues first.”
Both groups were compelled to file in the D.C. Circuit after the U.S. Supreme Court found in July 2025 that it was the “only appropriate venue” for challenges to the RFS.
The decisions issued this August cleared the EPA’s dockets of prior-year petitions that had been left undetermined for years under the program, but the agency has already received four petitions each for the 2026 and 2027 compliance years.