US appeals court dismisses SRE challenge brought by Hunt Refining

In Washington, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit dismissed Hunt Refining Company v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ruling that the small refinery exemption (SRE) challenge brought by Hunt under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) could not be heard by the court and should instead be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor issued the following statement in response:

“The 11th Circuit validated what we already knew: EPA’s denials of these SRE petitions were ‘nationally applicable’ and have nationwide effect, and challenges to the denials should only have been brought in the D.C. Circuit. Every time refiners seek to take RFS gallons out of the marketplace, that potentially impacts the entire renewable fuels market, no matter where those gallons are blended. The 11th Circuit rightly removed itself from reviewing these challenges and avoided contributing to a potential patchwork of inconsistent standards. We welcome this decision and hope it has an impact on other cases still pending before other courts.”