The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed a petition from the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) as a policy disagreement with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2017 levels of biomass-based biodiesel volumes.
In the same decision, the court further rejected arguments that the overall 2017 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) blending obligations were too high and that EPA should have used additional waiver authority. The court also rejected oil refiners’ arguments that they are burdened by Renewable Identification Number (RIN) prices, which are credits refiners use to prove compliance with RFS obligations in lieu of blending.
The NBB asked EPA in 2017 to review its blending volume obligations, alleging the agency had no statutory authority to control or limit the growth of biofuel markets.
