Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon seeks EPA help in providing relief to the beleaguered energy industry.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon seeks EPA help in providing relief to the beleaguered energy industry.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon joined fellow governors from Utah, Oklahoma and Texas 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 pandemic has caused fuel demand to plummet with people staying home. This has meant trouble for the refining industry, and mandates from the renewable fuel standards make things tougher for the industry, he said.
“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.”
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast a contraction in global oil demand, which has not happened in at least 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.”
The refining and petrochemical industries contribute $660 billion annually to the national economy and employ millions of workers in 33 states. This poses, Gordon wrote, “a material threat to the refining sector clearly would constitute a severe economic harm to particular states, regions and the nation as a whole.”
Alerts Sign-up