WASHINGTON, D.C.—Two distinguished biofuel teams—Progress Vitality and the Renewable Fuels Affiliation (RFA)—commented on the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s resolution to grant certiorari on petitions pertaining to the administration of small refinery exemptions (SREs) underneath the Renewable Gasoline Customary (RFS), issuing the next joint assertion:
“The Fifth Circuit was clearly an improper venue to listen to challenges on small refinery exemptions (SREs). As a result of the Fifth Circuit opinion arrange a transparent break up with a number of different Circuit courts on the query of venue, that is exactly the type of subject that the Supreme Court docket is supposed to resolve. The Court docket has agreed, and we sit up for taking part within the case and having this subject settled as soon as and for all.
“The refining group’s abuse of small refinery exemptions destroys demand for biofuels nationwide, which negatively impacts farmers and bioethanol producers no matter the place they function. The financial and environmental influence of this abuse doesn’t acknowledge state strains. The choice on this case ought to strengthen the RFS by giving biofuel producers and their farm companions the knowledge they deserve.”
In regards to the RFS
The Renewable Gasoline Customary (RFS) was first enacted in 2005 as a part of the Vitality Coverage Act. It was then expanded in 2007 with the passage of the Vitality Independence and Safety Act. It units the variety of gallons of renewable fuels (like biofuels) that should be blended into the nation’s whole gas provide annually. The RFS stays one among America’s most profitable clear vitality insurance policies, decreasing carbon emissions, providing customers extra reasonably priced choices on the pump, and delivering better vitality safety for greater than 15 years.
About Progress Vitality and RFA’s Petition
In Might 2024, Progress Vitality and RFA collectively petitioned the Supreme Court docket to overturn an opinion from the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit concerning EPA’s denials of a number of SREs underneath the RFS. Of their petition, Progress Vitality and RFA argued that challenges to these denials needs to be adjudicated solely within the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, not in regional circuits just like the Fifth, which solely covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. In distinction to all different U.S. Courts of Appeals that evaluated this venue subject, the Fifth Circuit concluded that it was the correct venue to listen to and rule on these challenges, although EPA’s SRE coverage is “nationally relevant” and “primarily based on a willpower of nationwide scope or impact.”
