Renewable fuels groups are chalking up a win after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacated three Sinclair small refinery exemptions (SREs) on Wednesday. The now vacated exemptions were granted by former President Donald Trump’s administration a day before he left office.
The move comes only weeks after EPA asked the Court to vacate the three SREs on April 30. In turn, Sinclair responded on May 18 saying the company didn’t oppose EPA’s request.
“We’re pleased that the court has vacated these improperly granted waivers and is sending them back to EPA for reconsideration,” Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said in a statement on Wednesday. “If these exemptions had been allowed to stand, they would have erased RFS blending requirements for 260 million gallons of low-carbon renewable fuels, destabilizing rural communities and taking a step backward in the fight against climate change. EPA did the right thing in April by requesting that these spurious exemptions be vacated, and we applaud the agency for honoring President Biden’s commitment to putting an end to the surge of illegitimate refinery waivers.”
In the court order released Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals states, “The motion concedes that the agency did not analyze determinative legal questions regarding whether Petitioners’ (Sinclair Wyoming Refining Company and Sinclair Casper Refining Company (collectively, “Sinclair”)) refineries qualified to receive extensions of the small refinery exemption under this court’s controlling decision in Renewable Fuels Association v. EPA, 948 F.3d 1206 (10th Cir. 2020).”
“We are glad to see the court move swiftly and agree with EPA’s motion to vacate and remand Sinclair’s improperly granted SREs. Going forward, SCOTUS should affirm the 10th Circuit’s opinion and affirm EPA’s authority to deny this and all other improper SREs outright, once and for all,” said Emily Score, CEO of Growth Energy.
The three small refinery exemptions were issued to unidentified refineries at the time, which RFA says allowed those facilities out of their Renewable Fuel Standard compliance obligations for 2018 and 2019.
