The owners of two Oklahoma refineries will get to take their biofuel waivers fight before the U.S. Supreme Court. The court has agreed to hear the challenge of HollyFrontier Corp. and Wynnewood Refining Co. to the EPA’s biofuels mandate after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against them one year ago this month.
The Wynnewood Refining Co. which is owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, has a refinery in Wynnewood while HollyFrontier’s refinery is in in Tulsa. However, the HollyFrontier refineries in question were the Woods Cross in Utah and its Cheyenne operation in Wyoming. The refineries were under EPA mandate to producer certain amounts of ethanol and biodiesel but were also allowed to obtain waivers from those requirements.
The waivers were challenged by ethanol groups and the Denver federal appeals court sided with them and against the refineries.
But HollyFrontier Corp. and Wynnewood Refining Co. argued the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals wrongly deprived them and other small refineries of economic relief specifically authorized by Congress. The justices agreed, without comment to hear their appeal.
Under the law, the EPA had the authority to grant waivers to small refineries who faced “economic hardship” in complying with the biofuel-blending mandates. When the number of exemptions increased in the Trump administration, the biofuel groups challenged the EPA’s granting of the waivers.
The Denver Federal Appeals court ruled in January 2020 that the EPA wrongly had given waivers to three of the refineries, stating they should have been eligible only if they they had received uninterrupted, continuous extensions of the exemptions.
Wynnewood Refining and HollyFrontier made the argument that small refineries like themselves were at risk of being put out of business by the mandates.
POLITICO reported that refiners were excited about the news and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers issued a statement, saying “We’re encouraged that the Supreme Court sees the merit in this case and the need for clarification around the plain text of the RFS statute.”
Biofuel producers were equally unhappy.
Kurt Kovarik who is vice president of Federal Affairs for the National Biodiesel Board was quoted as stating, “We are disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision to review the case but will continue to vigorously pursue a resolution to the damage that small refinery exemptions do to the biodiesel industry.”
It’s believed the Supreme Court could hear the case as soon as April of 2021.
The case is HollyFrontier Cheyenne et al v Renewable Fuels Association et al. 20-472
