Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

AFPM president and CEO Chet Thompson issued the following statement in response to a vote of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approving California’s Advanced Clean Cars 2 regulation, establishing an escalating ban on the sale of gasoline and diesel-fueled cars and trucks, culminating with a 100% ban by 2035. "California’s radical ban on gasoline- and diesel-fueled cars and trucks will have devastating implications for consumers, energy security and the U.S. manufacturing economy. It is critical that President Biden and the EPA reject California’s request for a Clean Air Act waiver to proceed with this unlawful ban."

EPA’s existing Risk Management Plan (RMP) is doing what it was designed to do: drive continual safety improvements across workplaces to keep industry employees, contractors, facility neighbors and local environments safe. Any changes to a regulation as effective as the RMP need to be solidly evidence-based. Unfortunately, today’s proposal is filled with costly and misinformed changes, with little-to-no data to back them up. In fact, many of the proposed changes will adversely impact the safety and security missions of refining and petrochemical sites. AFPM looks forward to providing detailed comments on this proposal.

With the possibility that the EPA and policymakers could make updates to the Risk Management Plan (RMP) program, there are three things we encourage them to keep in mind: 1. RMP is working as intended and keeping people safe. 2. Any changes to RMP must be evidence-based and actionable. 3. Using RMP to zero in on hydrofluoric acid (HF) alkylation at refineries could have major impacts on U.S. fuel supplies.

EPA's 2022 RFS standard is bewildering and contrary to the Administration’s claims to be doing everything in their power to provide relief to consumers. Unachievable mandates will needlessly raise fuel production costs and further threaten the viability of U.S. small refineries, both at the expense of consumers.

American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers CEO Chet Thompson today issued the following statement on the Biden administration’s announcement that it plans to invoke emergency waiver authority under the Clean Air Act to allow for the incremental sale of E15 fuel this summer.

EPA’s blanket denial of relief for small refineries is a political decision that contradicts Congress’s design for the RFS. We are deeply disappointed in this and in the precedent it sets for small refineries experiencing hardship and the communities and regions that rely on these facilities for energy security.

In a series of comments submitted recently to EPA, leading labor groups made the case to President Biden and EPA Administrator Michael Regan for reductions to the proposed 2022 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volume mandate. An unachievable and costly RFS is a threat to good union jobs.

Because of the extensive safety and mitigation steps refiners take wherever hydrofluoric acid (HF) alkylation is concerned, the risks from this process pale in comparison to those we assume every day when we engage in routine activities like riding a bike, driving a car and playing with pets.

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  AFPM supports the drive to make the transportation fleet more efficient and sees our industries as integral in that process. CAFE standards must be achievable, affordable for drivers, reflective of consumer preferences, and consistent across the United States.