What happens if, after submitting his annual compliance demonstration report, a refiner discovers that he exceeded the 20% cap on the use of previous-year RINs in meeting his RVO? Is he required to replace those RINs with new valid RINs at the old market price?

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Annual compliance demonstrations must include a showing that the RINs used to comply with the RVO include no more than 20% previous-year RINs. If it is determined that this showing was incorrect due to either a mathematical error or the discovery that some of the current-year RINs were invalid, or for any other reason, the obligated party must revise the compliance demonstration by adding additional current-year RINs to the compliance demonstration until the 20% maximum is met.

If sufficient current-year RINs are not already owned by the obligated party, he will need to acquire them through transfers from other parties. If the obligated party cannot acquire sufficient additional current-year RINs to meet the 20% criterion, he may be able to reduce the number of previous-year RINs used below the 20% level and then carry a deficit into the next year.

If a party discovers an error and must submit a corrected report, it may download the appropriate form and instructions from our website at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/fuels/rfsforms.htm. There is a field that the reporting party marks for resubmissions.

Question and Answer was originally posted at: Questions and Answers on the Renewable Fuel Standard Program (pdf) (55 pp, 221 KB, EPA420-F-07-041a, August 2007)