U.S. EPA grants 25 small refineries relief from biofuels law - source

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted hardship exemptions from the nation’s biofuel laws to 25 oil refineries in 2017, according to an agency source, representing a significant expansion of the waiver program.

In a typical year, the EPA would receive about 12 to 15 requests for hardship exemptions and would grant about half of them, a second source familiar with the program told Reuters.

Refiners, including large ones like Andeavor, applied for the hardship waivers in larger numbers in the wake of a federal appeals court ruling in August that said the EPA must expand the criteria for approving such waivers.