A bipartisan coalition of 35 members of the House of Representatives have written to the Environmental Protection Agency telling them to stop issuing small refiner exemptions to large or unqualified refiners. Minnesota Biofuels Association Executive Director Tim Rudnicki says that’s a step in the right direction and the EPA needs to listen to the concerns of Congress.

The EPA has approved 54 waivers through the RFS totaling 2.61 billion gallons of renewable fuels in the past year and a half and has 40 more waivers pending. Rudnicki says those waivers are causing a great deal of destruction to the renewable fuels industry and hurting the environment.

He says the letter is an example of the federal lawmakers to hold the EPA accountable.

In their letter the House members said the EPA must halt the process of granting the waivers and reallocate waived gallons as intended by law.