RINs “Hardship Waivers” Get Day In (Supreme) Court
BioCycle’s February 1, 2021 update on small refinery “economic hardship” exemptions from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) traced the hairpin path to where “hardship waivers” then stood. It ended with the Supreme Court’s surprise grant of review (in HollyFrontierCheyenne Refining et al v. RFA et al) of Tenth Circuit rulings that would, if final, invalidate any “extensions” of waivers unless an underlying exemption has been continuously maintained. The BioCycle update concluded that “with some 60 petitions still pending, the Biden Administration is positioned to avert” more waivers, and “an early signal may come when the Biden Department of Justice (DoJ) files its Supreme Court brief on behalf of the new EPA. Many expect it will concede error and decline to defend the [flood of Trump-era] waivers.”