The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on June 20 rejected several claims challenging the U.S. EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard Set rule but will require the agency to provide additional information on certain environmental findings.&nbsp;The RFS Set rule, <a href="https://ethanolproducer.com/articles/article-114">finalized in June 2023</a>, set renewable volume obligations for 2023, 2024 and 2025. The rulemaking faced numerous legal challenges, including those filed by two nonprofit conservation organizations, petroleum refiners, a renewable fuel producer, and a biodiesel trade group.&nbsp;A panel of judges on June 20 denied the petitions filed by the petroleum groups and renewable fuel producers, dismissed the challenge file by the biodiesel trade group, but found that the challenges filed by the environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, have merit.&nbsp;The two challenges the court found to have merit claim that the “EPA failed to adequately explain why—for the purposes of addressing lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with crop-based fuels—it reused the results of an admittedly outdated study include of newer data collected from the agency’s literature review of the most reliable post-2010 findings” and that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “failed to adequately explain how its conclusion that the Set Rule will have ‘no effect’ on the endangered species or their critical habitats accords with the legal framework set forth in its Consultation Handbook and the implementing regulations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).”The court left the RFS Set rule intact and in effect, but remanded the rulemaking to EPA and FWS for further consideration and explanation of their decisions with regard to the two claims that were found to have merit.Growth Energy applauded the court for upholding the RFS Set rule against oil industry challenges.&nbsp;“The oil industry’s arguments in this case were fatally flawed—they relied on tenuous legal arguments that ran contrary to the facts and the plain language of the RFS statute. We’re glad the court recognized their claims for what they were and ruled in EPA’s favor,” Growth Energy said in a statement. “In addition, we are confident that EPA and the Fish and Wildlife Service on remand will provide further explanation of their environmental findings in support of the RFS Set rule.“The RFS has proven itself time and time again to be one of America’s most-successful clean energy programs. The stronger we can make the RFS, the more it can support American energy dominance, rural economic growth, and greater consumer savings.”

2025-06-23 - Court upholds RFS Set rule (4 publications)

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on June 20 rejected several claims challenging the U.S. EPA’s RFS Set rule but will require the agency to provide additional information on certain environmental findings. 

Court upholds RFS Set rule

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