Tenth Circuit Denies Refiners’ Rehearing Request

In welcome news to corn farmers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit yesterday denied a request for a rehearing of a recent ruling that struck down certain small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

On January 24, a panel of Tenth Circuit judges unanimously ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had vastly exceeded its authority in granting exemptions from 2016 and 2017 RFS requirements to three refineries.

NCGA, along with the Renewable Fuels Association, American Coalition for Ethanol and National Farmers Union, brought the challenge against EPA in May 2018 in response to the massive demand destruction caused by the Agency’s illegal and indiscriminate use of SREs.

With the Court’s denial of refiners’ appeal request, NCGA strongly urges EPA to act quickly to appropriately apply the Tenth Circuit decision nationwide and deny pending SREs.