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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a majority of long-pending waiver requests from small oil refineries under the federal biofuels mandate, granting 63 full and 77 partial exemptions while denying 28 applications.

This move has raised alarms within the ethanol and biodiesel sectors regarding potential demand destruction. The decision addresses a backlog of 204 requests dating back to 2016, but with only 1.39 billion renewable identification numbers retaining compliance value. Biofuel advocates are urging the EPA to redistribute blending obligations to mitigate the impacts on demand.