EPA Defends Renewable Fuel Standards Rule Against Refiners (1)

The Environmental Protection Agency told the D.C. Circuit at oral argument Friday that its decision-making process and underlying reasons for changes it made to the renewable fuel standards program were justified by the plain language of the Clean Air Act.

The agency “reasonably set and fully explained the 2022 volume requirements for total renewable fuel and advanced biofuel under its reset authority” and “used the structure of renewable fuel volumes Congress set forth in the statute,” Kimere Kimball, representing the EPA, told the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Under the CAA, the EPA sets annual standards for ...