The Renewables United for Integrity Truth and Transparency has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to remove invalid Renewable Identification Numbers or RINS from the market and to stop issuing small refinery waivers. The group also argued in a Federal Appeals Court this week that the EPA is not legally authorized to issue waivers retroactively. National Farmers Union’s Biofuels Advisor Anne Steckel says it’s positive the group is pushing the agency on the waiver issue.

She says the massive waivers granted to refiners have hurt not only biodiesel and ethanol producers but also farmers.

Steckel says Interim Administrator Andrew Wheeler has been better to work with than the previous Administrator Scott Pruitt. She says it takes a lot of education to bring the Trump administration up to speed on what needs to be done with the RFS.

In 2016 and 2017, the EPA granted 48 small refinery waivers to the RFS. So far in 2018 the agency has not approved any of the 15 waiver requests.