The Environmental Protection Agency today published a notice in the Federal Register of a proposed consent decree that would require EPA to make a decision by Feb. 19 on a petition from United Refining for a 2019 small refinery exemption petition from the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The deadline to comment on the proposed consent decree is Feb. 3, which indicates a decision would not be made before the Trump administration leaves office on Jan. 20.

“Even with the promise of a new year, there are continued challenges with EPA’s SRE program given the secrecy and lack of transparency into the entire process,” Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor said in a news release.

“With the 2020 blending compliance deadline at the end of March looming, EPA’s swift action on all 66 outstanding SRE petitions remains critical to providing stability for biofuel producers and farmers.

“President-elect Biden’s administration has an opportunity to uphold a key campaign promise to rural America, and deny any and all SRE petitions that are not in accordance with the Renewable Fuel Standard or the 10th Circuit’s ruling on SREs, which was almost a year ago.”

On the campaign trail, Biden often condemned the Trump administration’s handling and abuse of the SRE program, and repeatedly affirmed that “A Biden-Harris administration will fight for family farmers and revitalize rural economies — [keeping] our promises to farmers by ushering in a new era of biofuels,” Skor noted.