-The Hagstrom Report
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today reversed a 2019 rule by the Environmental Protection Agency that E15 gasoline, a 15% ethanol blend, could be sold year round with few restrictions.
Oil refiners challenged the rule in the case, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, et al. vs. EPA.
EPA had long held that E10, a 10% ethanol blend, was safe from concerns about high levels of vaporization that could affect the functioning of gasoline powered vehicles, but for many years E15 could not be sold in the summertime on the grounds that the vaporization level was too high.
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Growth Energy Thanks Senate Republicans for Pushing to Protect the RFS
Washington DC June 30, 2021; Following reports that the Biden Administration is considering bailouts for oil refineries, Iowa Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley led a strong coalition of Senate Republicans in a letter to the president urging him to uphold the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In their letter, the Senators referenced President Biden’s campaign promise to “promote and advance renewable energy, ethanol and other biofuel.”
Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor thanked Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), as well as Senators Thune (R-SD), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) for holding the Biden Administration accountable to honoring the president’s commitments on the RFS:
New Jersey lawmakers urge EPA to reform renewable-fuels standard for small refiners
New Jersey lawmakers waded into a long-running battle by independent oil refiners for reform of a federal mandate that the companies say is costing them millions of dollars and threatening their survival.
Both the Senate and Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging President Joe Biden and the Environmental Protection Agency to allow waivers to the Renewable Fuels Standard that would ease financial pressure on refiners such as Parsippany-based PBF Energy which employs about 225 people at a facility in Paulsboro.
To comply with the standard, PBF and other refiners who are unable to blend biofuels such as ethanol with gasoline and diesel are required instead to buy credits called Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, that have recently surged in price because they are traded on the open market.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday sided with three small oil refineries seeking exemptions from requirements to blend ethanol into their gasoline. The decision overturns an appellate court ruling from last year.
The ruling sets a precedent, giving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency more leeway in granting exemptions to oil refineries to rules intended to promote the use of corn-based ethanol and other fuel made from renewable sources.
Last year, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the refineries can only qualify for an exemption if they’ve been continuously exempt already. But in a 6-3 decision, the high court ruled refineries can seek extensions even if they wait until an earlier waiver has lapsed. The justices compared it to a student asking their professor for an extension for a big paper after it’s due.