An Entertaining 101 on Issues Impacting the Renewable Fuel Standard

Two Landmark Court Rulings Have the Potential to Reshape the Future of the Renewable Fuel Standard

July 16, 2025

Two major federal court decisions—one from the U.S. Supreme Court and the other from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals—are poised to significantly impact the administration and future direction of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), EPA’s signature biofuel blending program. Supreme Court Centralizes Refinery Waiver Disputes In a 7–2 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that legal challenges over EPA’s denial of small refinery exemptions (SREs) must be heard exclusively by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The Court held that EPA’s mass denial of SRE petitions was rooted in a nationwide policy judgment—that most refiners can... Read More →

Understanding EPA’s Summertime Emergency Waiver for E15

June 17, 2025

In an effort to “address fuel supply challenges and support domestic agriculture” this summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing emergency waivers to allow the nationwide sale of E15 gasoline during the summer months. While this is the fourth successive summer in which EPA has issued this type of emergency fuel waiver, there was a new hurdle this year compared to years past. Earlier this year, EPA granted requests from eight Midwestern states to revoke the 1-psi Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) waiver for E10 during the summer months, aiming to make E15 more widely available by eliminating the... Read More →

RVP and the Year-Round Sale of E15: What’s Happening?

April 16, 2025

Midwest states have long championed the use of E15—a gasoline blend containing 15% ethanol—for its promise to lower fuel costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and support rural economies. However, efforts to enable year-round sales of E15 have faced many regulatory hurdles and push back for over a decade. What Is RVP? Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) is a measure of how easily gasoline evaporates, indicating the fuel’s volatility. This matters because more volatile fuels evaporate faster, especially in warm weather, which can contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, or smog. To protect air quality—particularly in the summer when ozone pollution... Read More →

Supreme Court to Hear Case with Potential to Reshape Legal Landscape of RFS

January 14, 2025

The U.S. Supreme Court has recently agreed to hear a critical case which could reshape the legal landscape of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and its authority. The case, Environmental Protection Agency v. Calumet Shreveport Refining, LLC, Case No. 23-1229, centers around a pivotal question regarding the jurisdiction for reviewing denials of small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the RFS. This decision, once rendered, could have far-reaching implications for both the future of the RFS and the authority of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in implementing environmental policy related to biofuels. Background: The Renewable Fuel Standard and Small Refinery Exemptions... Read More →

Back to the Drawing Board: Court Vacates Certain EPA Denial of SREs

September 11, 2024

So, a bit of background. Most of you are already familiar with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and Small Refinery Exemptions (SRE). If you are not, please be sure to read up on them in previous posts. Now that that’s done, let’s look at the issue at hand. In 2022, EPA denied all SREs that had been petitioned. The Agency reasoned that only compliance costs with the RFS were relevant to showing disproportionate economic harm, and these costs could simply be passed along to their consumers. As such, EPA concluded that small refineries do not face any economic hardship via... Read More →

Season of Giving: 5th Circuit Overturns EPA’s Retroactive SRE Denials

December 11, 2023

Did you know that if you totaled up all the birds and pear trees given in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, there would be 184 birds and 12 trees? Speaking of gifting others, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals recently gave refiners the “gift” of withdrawing EPA’s denial of small refinery exemptions (SREs) for six different refineries.   How did this “gift” come to be? In 2022, EPA made headlines twice when it retroactively overturned SRE petitions that had already been granted. In April 2022, EPA retroactively denied 36 SRE petitions from 36 different small refineries that had... Read More →

Certainties in a Season of Change: Chemoil Corp. v. U.S.

November 6, 2023

My dad was the person in my family handing down the life lessons. One thing that I heard probably more than anything else was that there are only three certainties in life: death, taxes, and the fact that everything changes. Turns out he was right…though it will be a very long time before I tell him that…Speaking of taxes, recently, Chemoil Corp. ran into one of the more certain things in life. I know, I know, taxes….blech. I promise, however, to give you a scintillating tale of a tax credit, a bad actor, and a court case.  I am certain... Read More →

Ghosts and Goblins! Office of Inspector General Releases Audit Report on Fraud Potential Within the RFS

October 11, 2023

It’s spooky season! A time filled with ghosts and goblins and…a report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) on fraud potential within the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Recently, OIG completed an audit of the RFS to identify areas of improvement to prevent opportunities for RIN fraud. The words “fraud” and “Renewable fuel Standard” or “RINs” used in the same sentence can be a little scary. I’ll admit it. When this report was first published, before I had read it, I passed it on to my boss with the message: “This doesn’t look good.” Even some of the headlines that... Read More →

Lawsuits in the Fall: EPA Subject to Lawsuit Brought by Center for Biological Diversity

September 11, 2023

September in Iowa is just starting to feel a bit like fall. I am so ready for comfy socks, oversized sweatshirts, pumpkin spice, and the feeling of impending lawsuits…wait, what? EPA has recently “fallen” subject to many lawsuits filed by many different entities from several different market positions, but this post is going to focus on the one between EPA and the Center for Biological Diversity. Recently, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed suit against EPA for the Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) as part the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) “Set” rule released this past June. More specifically, CBD is... Read More →

Small Refineries and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day(s): EPA Denies 26 Small Refinery Exemptions; D.C. Circuit Court Dismisses Cases Challenging EPA’s Compliance Schedule

August 8, 2023

I think there needs to be a book like “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” but for adults. Maybe, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Adulting,” complete with an accurate description of the 40-hour work week, taxes, and what paying student loans feels like. Given recent events, small refineries might be able to relate to either book. Within the past month, EPA has made a couple of decisions that have gained a fair amount of attention. First, EPA denied 26 Small Refinery Exemptions (SRE) petitions between the years 2016-2018 and 2021-2023. Second, the... Read More →