July 24 (Reuters) – HF Sinclair is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for continuing to delay a decision on exemptions from biofuel blending mandates, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing a lawsuit filed by the refiner.
This follows a similar action by the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents U.S. refiners and argued that the mandates would sharply increase compliance costs and fuel price.
The mandates, finalized in late March, require oil refiners to blend billions of gallons of ethanol and other biofuels into the nation’s fuel supply or buy credits known as renewable identification numbers (RINs).
The dispute comes amid a congressional fight to pass year-round sales of higher-ethanol E15 gasoline.
Earlier this month, the EPA said 42 small refinery exemption petitions remained pending.
The agency did not approve or deny any petitions over the previous month and faces a September 1 deadline to provide decisions.
HF Sinclair is one of many companies waiting on decisions on who will receive breaks from biofuel blending quotas, the Bloomberg report said.
The company and EPA did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
(Reporting by Varun Sahay in Bengaluru and Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
