The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued Notices of Violation of the Clean Air Act to parties who used Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) generated by Clean Green Fuel LLC to satisfy their compliance obligations (known as “renewable volume obligations” or “RVOs”) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS1 and RFS2). The actions followed an EPA determination that the RINs generated by Clean Green Fuel were invalid, as they did not represent corresponding volumes of biodiesel that the company was purporting to have produced at its Maryland facility.

EPA’s determination with respect to Clean Green Fuel stems from the criminal charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office against Rodney Hailey, owner of Clean Green Fuel, for allegedly selling more than 32 million fraudulent RFS1 (and potentially RFS2) biodiesel RINs. Hailey allegedly registered Clean Green Fuel with the EPA as a producer of biodiesel, but the company never actually produced any renewable fuel. Court documents state that twenty-four obligated parties used these RINs for compliance purposes, and many more companies likely traded the fraudulent RINs.