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Biofuel groups disappointed by D.C. Circuit Court Small Refinery Exemption ruling

Biofuel groups are disappointed by a recent U.S. Court of Appeals decision to vacate most of EPA’s 2022 denials of small refinery exemption requests.

Growth Energy general counsel Joe Kakesh says some of the petitions date back to 2018.

“So all in all, it doesn’t read like it’s a good outcome for us and we’re obviously disappointed. But the case is still under seal, and we’ll have to wait until the court unseals it before we get more details about it.”

He tells Brownfield the immediate next step is a remand back to EPA so the agency can reanalyze the exemption petitions in light of the D.C. Circuit’s opinion.

“The other step of course is that this isn’t necessarily the end of the road for these cases because there’s a process for appeal here both in the D.C. Circuit and potentially in the Supreme Court that will take some time to work itself out.”

Growth Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association, and American Coalition for Ethanol issued a joint statement saying EPA’s decision in 2022 to deny the petitions was well-reasoned and they are evaluating next steps.