Supreme Court to Review Refinery Waivers From Biofuel Quotas
The Supreme Court will review the ability of oil refineries to win exemptions from federal biofuel-blending quotas, a blow to producers of ethanol and biodiesel that had challenged the waivers.
The justices, without comment, agreed to hear an appeal by units of HollyFrontier Corp. and Wynnewood Refining Co., which said a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling wrongly deprived small refineries of economic relief specifically authorized by Congress.
At issue is the Renewable Fuel Standard law that requires refineries and fuel importers to blend plant-based alternative fuels such as corn-based ethanol and soy-based biodiesel into their products.
The law also empowered the Environmental Protection Agency to give some small refineries exemptions from the biofuel-blending mandates if they faced an “economic hardship” in complying. However, after the exemptions soared under the Trump administration, biofuel advocates challenged the EPA’s handling of the issue in court, arguing the agency had too freely handed out the waivers.
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