Supreme Court favours oil refineries in blending waiver dispute
The Supreme Court, on Friday’s decision, reversed a 10th Circuit decision that vacated hardship waivers granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and determined that the refineries were not eligible for an “extension” after going for some time without one.
But Justice Neil Gorsuch further explained the word extension. “Think of the forgetful student who asks for an ‘extension’ for a term paper after the deadline has passed, the tenant who does the same after overstaying his lease, or parties who negotiate an ‘extension’ of a contract after its expiration,” he said.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the other hand wrote the dissenting opinion, arguing that the EPA can’t “extend” an exemption that a refinery doesn’t have anymore and that the majority opinion uses an “outlier” meaning of the word that’s not consistent with its other uses in the statute.
After the decision, a coalition representing biofuel producers released a statement expressing disappointment in the decision but expressed optimism about how the Biden administration would handle waivers.
