Small Refinery Exemption Litigation Update
Podcast - An Update on the Renewable Fuel Standard Final Rule
On August 14, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) released a redacted copy of its opinion in Sinclair Wyoming Refining Co. LLC v. EPA, in which the D.C. Circuit...more
The Transportation Energy Institute (“TEI”) issued a July 25th report titled: Balancing the Benefits of Biofuels: The Economics of U.S. Crop-Based Fuel Production (“Report”). The Report describes itself as a...more
In this episode of our "An Energized Exchange" podcast series by our Energy & Natural Resources Industry Sector Group, attorneys Andy Kriha and Susan Lafferty delve into the intricacies of ongoing litigation surrounding small...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on April 3, 2024, that it has rescheduled its public webinar to discuss the implementation of the Biogas Regulatory Reform Rule (BRRR) provisions promulgated as part of...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), which administers the federal renewable fuels program known as the Renewable Fuel Standards (“RFS”), has been grappling with the best approach to incorporating electric...more
The Environmental Protection Agency issued its final rule establishing biofuel volume requirements for 2023 to 2025 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program on June 21. The Rule aims to reduce the United States’...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), which administers the federal renewable fuels program known as the Renewable Fuel Standards (“RFS”), has long considered the potential impact of electric vehicles on the RFS....more
Last week, President Biden delivered the State of the Union and outlined his vision for the U.S. energy transition. Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) responded to a request from Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-TN),...more
On 1 December 2022, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a major new regulatory component of the Renewable Fuel Standard program (RFS) to recognize electricity produced from biomass and used to fuel electric...more
The $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act (the “Act”) enacted in August 2022 expanded and extended numerous tax credits and incentive programs for development of clean energy projects. The biogas industry is one sector...more
Recently the EPA released a proposed rule establishing Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), while also denying more than 60 small refinery exemption (SRE) petitions and proposing other...more
On June 25, 2021, the Supreme Court decided HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC v. Renewable Fuels Association, et al., Slip Op. 20-472 (June 25, 2021), which concerned small refiners’ eligibility for hardship exemptions...more
On May 25, 2021, U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and House Representatives Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Ashley Hinson (R-IA), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) joined forces in a letter to urge President...more
For more than a decade, the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has provided powerful incentives that have driven the introduction of new transportation fuels into the US marketplace due to valuable credits known as...more
On August 21, 2019, Iowa Democratic Representative Cindy Axne asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Inspector General (IG) to investigate how EPA decided to grant the exemptions from the Renewable Fuel...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has included a new data portal on its website to promote greater transparency on small refineries exemptions to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). ...more
Under the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set renewable fuel percentage standards annually. On July 10, 2018, EPA announced a request for comments on a proposed rule to address...more
On July 10, 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released its proposed rule for renewable fuel volume requirements for 2019 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) program. Although the proposed total...more
On March 8, 2018, Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced companion legislation (S. 2519, H.R. 5212) in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, respectively, to reform the...more
The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is a regulatory program administered by EPA that requires petroleum-based transportation fuel sold in the U.S. to contain a minimum volume of various categories of biofuels. The program’s...more
EPA announced that renewable fuels produced from sorghum biomass could qualify as cellulosic fuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This is a result of a preliminary analysis of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions...more
On November 21, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that a final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2014 will not be issued by the end of the year. The compliance deadline for the 2013 RFS will be...more
As reported in a previous blog, EPA in June extended the compliance and attest engagement reporting deadlines for the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to September 30, 2014 and January 30, 2015 (respectively). Today, EPA...more
On July 2, 2014, EPA released a signed, pre-published version of its final rule for "Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Pathways II and Modifications to the RFS Program, Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Requirements, and E15 Misfueling...more
With legislative efforts to reform or repeal the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) on hold after the Environmental Protection Agency proposed paring back required blended levels of biofuel (renewable volume obligations or...more