Equality State News

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon joined leaders from three other states on April 16 in asking EPA Administrator Andrew  Wheeler to expedite a waiver of renewable volume obligations under the federal renewable fuel standard (RFS) in light of the extraordinary issues facing the nation’s oil refineries and the nation as a whole.

The COVID-19 crisis has created a plunge in the demand for fuel for transportation and air travel. People are staying home, and demand for refined products for air transportation, global delivery of goods, and petrochemicals has dropped, Gordon wrote in his letter to Wheeler. It was also signed by the governors of Utah, Oklahoma and Texas.

“Not only is EPA bound to act on this waiver request, it must do so immediately if it is to avoid the precise severe economic harm this waiver provision is designed to address," Gordon wrote. "The current RVO made assumptions regarding the ability of the U.S. refining sector to blend renewable fuels that simply no longer [exist]. As our country comes to grips with this national emergency, continuing to implement the current RVO imposes an added obligation that would 'severely' harm the [energy] sector and, consequently, harm the economy of the states and the nation.”  

He noted that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast the first quarterly contraction in global oil demand in more than a decade.

“The IEA has also revised down the outlook for global refinery runs," the letter noted. "As the world economy responds to measures adopted to contain COVID-19, demand for refined products for air transportation, global delivery of goods, and petrochemicals decline. And any rebound of necessity will occur only after containment restores predictable economic growth. In the interim, the U.S. refining sector will face real and substantial difficulty.” 

Gordon said the refining and petrochemical industries contribute $660 billion annually to the national economy and employ millions of workers in 33 states. This poses, Gordon writes, “a material threat to the refining sector clearly would constitute a severe economic harm to particular states, regions and the nation as a whole.”