EPA Seeks Remand Of Trump-Era RFS Waivers, Opening Door To New Policy

摘要

EPA is asking a federal appeals court to voluntarily remand Trump-era decisions that granted 31 small refinery waivers from renewable fuel standard (RFS) compliance and denied a smaller number of waiver requests, opening the door for the Biden administration to overhaul the agency's waiver policies in light of recent court rulings.In an Aug. 25 motion filed in the consolidated suit Sinclair Wyoming Refining, v. EPA, the agency asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for remand without vacatur of an August 2019 agency memorandum that granted 31 waivers and denied five more for the 2018 RFS compliance year."Given that EPA wishes to reconsider its Decision, remanding to EPA without vacatur would serve important jurisprudential interests by allowing EPA the first opportunity to address the varying arguments advanced by Petitioners and the appropriate administrative remedy," EPA says. Biofuels groups wish to overturn the 31 waiver approvals, while refiners fault EPA's waiver denials.