EPA opens comment period on proposed settlement with Genscape
Summary
The U.S. EPA on March 16 published a notice of proposed settlement agreement that alters the number of renewable identification numbers (RINs) that Genscape must retire to comply with a final determination issued by the agency in May 2019 that, in part, revoked Genscape’s registration as a Quality Assurance Plan auditor under the Renewable Fuel Standard. At that time, the agency said it was taking such action to hold Genscape accountable for failing to meet all elements of its approved quality assurance plan and for verifying millions of RINs that were fraudulently generated by two companies, Gen-X Energy Group Inc. and Southern Resources and Commodities. The agency also said it planned to require Genscape to retire valid RINs to replace the approximately 68 million invalid A-RINs the company verified, which were then used for compliance. Genscape in July 2019 filed a petition for review with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the portion of the final determining that required the company to replace the invalid RINs. The proposed settlement agreement published by the EPA on March 16 would no longer require Genscape to retire 69.17 million valid current or prior year D3, D4, D5 or D7 RINs.