Fuel Marketers Oppose EPA’s RIN Market Proposal
Alexandria, Va. -- NATSO, the national association
representing truckstops and travel plazas, the National Association of
Convenience Stores (NACS) and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America
(SIGMA) today criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed
regulations that would reform the market for Renewable Identification Numbers
(RINs).
The proposed changes to the market for RINs, which are the
“credits” that EPA uses to ensure that refiners satisfy their obligations under
the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), would create chaos in the RIN market and
reduce incentives for fuel retailers to incorporate renewable fuels into the
fuel supply. EPA admits that it has not seen any “data based evidence” of RIN
market manipulation that would necessitate these reforms.
“EPA’s proposal would remove many existing incentives to
sell biofuels and would act as a penalty for fuel marketers that want to blend
those fuels,” said NATSO Vice President of Government Affairs David Fialkov.
"The ‘reforms’ that EPA is exploring were conceived by the same refining
companies that for years have been trying to undercut the RFS in order to avoid
investing in renewable fuels. The changes are not designed to ‘enhance RIN
transparency’ but rather to depress demand for biofuels so that a small subset
of refiners can spend as little as possible to meet their obligations.”
“While these reforms are supposed to limit volatility and
‘improve transparency’ in the RIN market, they would generate more problems
than solutions,” said Paige Anderson, NACS director of government relations.
“Allowing E15 to be sold year round is only helpful if retailers still have an
incentive to sell it—and this proposal takes that incentive away.”
“If enacted as proposed, the ‘reforms’ could disrupt and distort the RIN market, ultimately undermining the purpose of the RFS,” said Eva Rigamonti, counsel to SIGMA. “Rather than push this counterproductive proposal, EPA could mitigate RIN market volatility while incentivizing the blending and sale of more renewable fuels by implementing the RFS in a transparent and predictable fashion.”