A bill to establish certain requirements for the small refineries exemption of the renewable fuels provisions under the Clean Air Act, and for other purposes.

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1792 To establish certain requirements for the small refineries exemption of the renewable fuels provisions under the Clean Air Act, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 24, 2021 Mrs. FISCHER (for herself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. THUNE, Ms. ERNST, and Mr. SASSE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To establish certain requirements for the small refineries exemption of the renewable fuels provisions under the Clean Air Act, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 3 In this Act: 4 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 5 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ- 6 mental Protection Agency. 7 (2) PETITION.—The term ‘‘petition’’ means a 8 petition for an exemption from the requirements of 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:36 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1792.IS S1792 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1792 IS paragraph (2) of section 211(o) of the Clean Air Act 1 (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)) under paragraph (9) of that 2 section for a calendar year. 3 SEC. 2. ANNUAL DEADLINE FOR PETITIONS BY SMALL RE- 4 FINERIES FOR EXEMPTIONS FROM RENEW- 5 ABLE FUEL REQUIREMENTS. 6 (a) DEADLINE.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 7 sion of law, a petition shall be submitted to the Adminis- 8 trator not later than June 1 of the year preceding the year 9 in which an exemption under the petition, if the petition 10 were granted, would be in effect. 11 (b) EFFECT OF FAILURE TO MEET DEADLINE.—If 12 a petition described in subsection (a) is not submitted by 13 the deadline described in that subsection, the petition shall 14 be ineligible for consideration or approval. 15 SEC. 3. TRANSPARENCY. 16 (a) INFORMATION IN PETITION SUBJECT TO PUBLIC 17 DISCLOSURE.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 19 information submitted to the Administrator by a 20 person, including a small refinery, in a petition— 21 (A) shall not be a trade secret or confiden- 22 tial information; and 23 (B) notwithstanding section 552(b) of title 24 5, United States Code, and any other Federal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:36 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1792.IS S1792 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1792 IS law (including regulations), shall be subject to 1 public disclosure. 2 (2) APPLICABILITY.—Paragraph (1) applies 3 only with respect to information submitted under a 4 petition for calendar year 2021 or subsequent cal- 5 endar years. 6 (b) DECISION.—The Administrator shall, at the same 7 time that the Administrator informs the petitioner of a 8 decision of whether to grant the petition— 9 (1) make publicly available— 10 (A) the name of the petitioner; 11 (B) the name and location of the facility 12 for which relief under the petition was re- 13 quested; 14 (C) the time period for which relief under 15 the petition was requested; and 16 (D) the extent to which the Administrator 17 granted or denied the petition; and 18 (2) submit to Congress a report— 19 (A) describing the nature of the relief re- 20 quested in the petition, including the factors 21 identified by the petitioner to demonstrate dis- 22 proportionate economic hardship under section 23 211(o)(9)(B)(i) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 24 7545(o)(9)(B)(i)); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:36 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1792.IS S1792 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1792 IS (B) that includes the detailed discussion 1 required by section 80.1441(e)(2) of title 40, 2 Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the 3 date of enactment of this Act), submitted by 4 the petitioner describing the hardship the refin- 5 ery would encounter in producing transpor- 6 tation fuel (as defined in section 211(o)(1) of 7 the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(1)) that 8 meets the requirements of section 80.1405 of 9 title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (as in ef- 10 fect on the date of enactment of this Act). 11 SEC. 4. ANNUAL RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARDS. 12 When determining the annual value of the renewable 13 fuel standard for a calendar year under section 80.1105 14 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 15 the date of enactment of this Act), the Administrator 16 shall, for the variable GEi referenced in that section, 17 which is the quantity of gasoline projected to be produced 18 by exempt small refineries and small refiners in gallons 19 for a calendar year, use the number that is the sum of 20 the total number of gallons waived as a result of all peti- 21 tions granted by the Administrator for that calendar year. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:36 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1792.IS S1792 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS