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  4. Industry Loses Challenge to EPA Enforcement of Renewable Fuel Rule

Industry Loses Challenge to EPA Enforcement of Renewable Fuel Rule

Date: December 21, 2010

Source: News Room

An appeals court rejected an oil industry challenge to the EPA's biodiesel blending requirements brought last March. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously dismissed arguments by the American Petroleum Institute and the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association that the court should review EPA's rules. Industry had balked at EPA's enforcement of a 2007 law, the Energy Independence and Security Act, because EPA failed to issue standards for 2009 and 2010 until March 2010, arguing that it was illegal for the agency to make retroactive requirements for a period before the rule was finalized and improper to combine both years. But the court ruled that EPA had "already adequately examined the claimed retroactive effects." Under the rules, refiners have until next Feb. 28, 2011, to show they have blended the required amounts of biodiesel into the nation's diesel fuel supply for 2009 and 2010.

Under the 2007 Energy Independence & Security Act, EPA was required to promulgate rules to implement the RFS by 2008 and establish the volumes of renewable fuels it would require in 2009. But EPA missed those two deadlines and instead issued its RFS proposal in May 2009 and did not issue its final rule, including volume mandates, until March this year. Since it was late, EPA combined the years 2009 and 2010 to which it applied its biomass-based diesel volume requirements for refiners. In its brief, EPA argued that the energy law required them to fulfill the mandates for each year and gave them discretion to combine years. According to the EPA brief, "EPA is not asking the Court to 'presume' that EPA has authority to require obligated parties to sell or introduce into commerce the 2009 applicable volume of biomass-based diesel. Congress gave EPA that authority." EPA also argued that its RFS approach is reasonable because it provided industry with flexibility in meeting the standard. The biofuel groups Growth Energy and the National Biodiesel Board both intervened on EPA's behalf.

See also: "Industry Attacks EPA for Retroactive RFS Rule," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20100817B.htm).

See also: "Gas Industry Sues EPA over Renewable Fuel Standard," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20100406B.htm).

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