WASHINGTON, DC - The Energy and Commerce Committee is continuing its investigation into the Environmental Protection Agency’s management of fraud in the production and trade of Renewable Identification Numbers, which serve as renewable fuel credits under EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard regulations. Since November 2011, the agency has identified over 140 million invalid or fraudulently created RINs.
Full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Vice Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA), Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO), and Rep. Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX) today wrote to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson requesting a progress report on EPA’s efforts to reduce fraudulent RINs. The members wrote, “As part of the Committee’s investigation, we seek additional information to help us examine EPA’s current actions to address fraud and abuse and to ensure market integrity."
The letter continues, “Since we opened the investigation last year, we have learned that the scope of challenges to the program may be larger than initially indicated. For example, during a July 11, 2012, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing, ‘RIN Fraud: EPA’s Efforts to Ensure Market Integrity in the Renewable Fuels Program,’ testimony identified the export of biofuels without the offsetting and mandated retirement of the fuel credits, as contributing to an artificial market surplus that was depressing RIN prices and undermining the integrity of the program. Additional testimony identified the burdens of EPA’s pace of decision-making on market certainty."
Last week, EPA announced a proposal for a Quality Assurance Program, a voluntary program to help verify the legitimacy of RINS. Today’s letter to Jackson requests details on the agency’s plan to implement the proposed program.
