Justices Wrestle With Defining ‘Extension’ Of RFS Small Refiner Waivers

Supreme Court justices at April 27 oral arguments wrestled with whether to uphold a lower court’s ruling that would effectively bar most small refiners from winning EPA renewable fuel standard (RFS) compliance waivers, analyzing the agency’s statutory power to “extend” exemptions for refiners lacking them in prior compliance years. At argument in HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC, et al., v. Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), et al. , the justices initially seemed split almost evenly between those leaning toward the government’s position...