Operators of the Wynnewood refinery have taken their Renewable Fuel Standard fight to the U.S. Supreme Court. CVR Energy along with HollyFrontier Corp.which operates a refinery in Tulsa filed petitions asking the high court to review a January ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Friday was the deadline to ask the Supreme Court to review the ruling that came against the small refinery operators who had sought exemptions from biofuel mandates..
There is no evidence at this point that the government filed an appeal — a spokesperson from the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade group that is a party to the case, said they’d been notified that refiners HollyFrontier Corp. and CVR refining had filed petitions for review from the high court reported POLITICO.
An EPA spokesperson referred POLITICO to the Justice Department. A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry, but DOJ’s listing of petitions recently filed did not list an request on the case.
EPA did not appeal the decision to the 10th circuit en banc either, and failing to ask the Supreme Court for review could be read as a corn farmer-friendly move in Iowa, a state Trump needs for reelection.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals made the ruling in a lawsuit filed in 2018 by the Renewable Fuels Association, National Corn Growers Association, American Coalition for Ethanol and National Farmers Union. Their May 2018 lawsuit against the EPA challenged three specific waivers granted by the EPA including one to a refinery owned by Wynnewood Refining Co., which is a subsidiary of CVR Energy which is majority-owned by Carl Icahn.
The other two waivers cited in the lawsuit were granted to refineries in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Woods Cross, Utah, owned by HollyFrontier Corp., owner of a refinery in Tulsa. The exemptions relieved Wynnewood Refining and Holly Frontier of a combined $170 million in compliance costs, according to company statements cited by the plaintiffs.
Source: POLITICO
