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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →The EPA completed its review of 175 small-refinery exemption petitions covering compliance years 2016–2024 in August 2025. It granted 63 in full and 77 in part, denied 28, and found seven ineligible. Those decisions were not the end of the process: on August 31, 2026, the agency announced separate decisions on 34 petitions for the 2025 compliance year.
What did EPA decide on the backlog?
On August 22, 2025, the EPA announced dispositions for 175 petitions from 38 refineries covering compliance years 2016 through 2024. The outcomes varied: a partial grant was not a full exemption, and a denial or ineligible finding was not an approval. The agency described the action as part of its work on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). EPA’s August 22, 2025 announcement provides the totals.
| Disposition | Petitions |
|---|---|
| Full exemption granted | 63 |
| Partial exemption granted | 77 |
| Denied | 28 |
| Found ineligible | 7 |
| Total | 175 |
How did the 2025 compliance-year decisions differ?
More than a year after the backlog announcement, EPA decided a separate group of 34 petitions from 34 refineries for the 2025 compliance year. On August 31, 2026, it announced 18 full grants, 11 partial grants, three denials, and two ineligible findings. These petitions should not be added to or confused with the 175-petition backlog. EPA’s decision page, updated September 2, 2026, documents the decisions.
| Measure | Backlog action, announced August 2025 | 2025 compliance-year action, announced August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance years | 2016–2024 | 2025 |
| Petitions | 175 | 34 |
| Refineries represented | 38 | 34 |
| Full grants | 63 | 18 |
| Partial grants | 77 | 11 |
| Denials | 28 | 3 |
| Ineligible petitions | 7 | 2 |
| RIN volume reported | Not stated in the cited backlog announcement | 1.76 billion RINs exempted for 29 refineries, according to EPA’s August 31, 2026 announcement |
What are small-refinery exemptions and RINs?
The RFS requires certain parties in the transportation-fuel supply chain to meet renewable-fuel obligations. Those required volumes are called Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs). Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, are compliance credits used in the program. An exemption can reduce a refinery’s RFS obligation; it does not itself set the amount of biofuel blended at a particular pump or establish a consumer price change.
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A small refinery exemption (SRE) petition asks EPA for relief from RFS obligations on the basis of disproportionate economic hardship. Small size alone does not mean every refinery automatically qualifies. In its 2026 decision materials, EPA says eligibility is limited to small refineries that received the initial blanket exemption, and a refinery must have been an obligated party with an obligation from which relief could be granted. EPA also describes consulting the Department of Energy and considering statutory factors and information submitted by refineries. The agency’s explanation is in its August 2026 decision document.
What did EPA announce about reallocation and compliance timing?
For the 2025 petitions, EPA said the 1.76 billion exempted RINs exceeded its 990-million-RIN estimate under its “Set 2” methodology. The agency attributed the difference to more refineries petitioning and changes in their financial circumstances. EPA said it would propose reallocating the full difference between projected and actual 2025 exemptions into the 2026 and 2027 RVOs before the end of October 2026. As of October 8, 2026, that was an announced plan for a future proposal, not a finalized reallocation rule. See EPA’s August 31, 2026 release for the agency’s statement.
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EPA also announced a 30-day extension of the 2025 RVO compliance date, to October 1, 2026, to account for additional RINs. That date has passed as of October 8, 2026; the cited announcement establishes the extension, not the subsequent status of individual parties’ compliance. The extension was part of the same EPA announcement.
How are already-retired RINs handled?
Some refineries may have retired RINs to satisfy an obligation before receiving an exemption. In a September 2, 2026 Federal Register notice, EPA said its interpretation of the Clean Air Act permits it to return retired credits in proportion to an exemption. EPA’s stated rationale is that doing so avoids introducing current-vintage RINs. This is the agency’s legal interpretation, not a court holding. The notice is available from the U.S. Government Publishing Office.
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What the decisions mean for fuel obligations
An exemption reduces the RFS obligation for the refinery receiving it; a partial exemption reduces it only in part. Reallocating exempted volumes to future RVOs, if finalized as proposed, would put those volumes back into the obligations assigned for 2026 and 2027 rather than treating the 2025 exemption total as the final word on future requirements. As of October 8, 2026, EPA had announced the intended proposal, but the cited sources do not establish that it had been finalized.
For anyone tracking the program, keep the two sets of decisions distinct: the 2016–2024 backlog action was completed in August 2025, while the 2025 compliance-year petitions were decided in August 2026. Their outcomes affect regulated parties’ RFS accounting; they do not by themselves establish a direct, uniform change in retail fuel prices.
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