The U.S. Supreme Court Friday said it would review the ability of small oil refineries to win exemptions from Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requirements, agreeing to hear an appeal by units of HollyFrontier Corporation and Wynnewood Refining Company relative to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that invalidated three small refinery exemptions (SREs) for the 2016 compliance year as they were not a continuation of prior SREs.
The court will examine whether the EPA exceeded its authority when it exempted three small oil refineries from obligations under the statute.
EPA cited the 10th Circuit decision in rejecting scores of gap-year SREs in the fall of 2019, but it has not made any decision on additional gap-year requests for the 2011-2018 compliance years nor has it decided on ones submitted for the 2019 and 2020 compliance years.
However, Reuters reported Monday afternoon that sources told them the Trump administration was expected to grant “some” waivers out of the 32 that are pending under the RFS for the 2019 compliance year.