U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacates three SREs from Trump Era

In Washington, the Renewable Fuels Association hailed an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacating three small refinery exemptions granted by EPA to Sinclair the day before President Joe Biden was inaugurated. The court’s decision came promptly after EPA petitioned for the vacatur and remand of the exemptions on April 30 and Sinclair responded on May 18 that it did not oppose EPA’s request.

The court order states that any further administrative proceedings on these exemptions must be “consistent with this court’s decision in Renewable Fuels Association v. EPA,” where the Tenth Circuit ruled that EPA may only extend pre-existing refinery exemptions, that EPA’s exemption decisions must reconcile the agency’s consistent findings that all refineries recover the costs of compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard, and that EPA may only use hardship caused by the RFS to justify granting exemptions.