Small Refinery Exemption Litigation Update
On June 18th, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two rulings determining where challenges to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actions under the Clean Air Act must be filed. The Court held challenges to EPA actions that are...more
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a pair of decisions in EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining and Oklahoma v. EPA on June 18, 2025, resolving two related circuit splits regarding proper venue for challenging certain U.S....more
Two weeks after setting a nationwide deadline for removal of lead pipes, the Biden administration is imposing strict new limits on dust from lead-based paint in older homes and child-care facilities....more
On August 14, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) released a redacted copy of its opinion in Sinclair Wyoming Refining Co. LLC v. EPA, in which the D.C. Circuit...more
Three years after a massive spill at a Los Angeles wastewater facility sent millions of gallons of sewage into Santa Monica Bay, the city has agreed to spend more than $20 million on improvements to remedy the environmental...more
In this episode of our "An Energized Exchange" podcast series by our Energy & Natural Resources Industry Sector Group, attorneys Andy Kriha and Susan Lafferty delve into the intricacies of ongoing litigation surrounding small...more
Chemical transport, tank cleaning and transportation depot operators breathed a sigh of relief in March 2024 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dropped provisions from a proposed rule when it issued its final...more
On March 1, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced finalized amendments to the Clean Air Act’s Risk Management Program (RMP) through the Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention Rule (Final Rule). ...more
On March 1, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed its final “Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act; Safer Communities by Chemical Accident...more
Most U.S. cities would have to replace lead water pipes within 10 years under strict new rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the Biden administration moves to reduce lead in drinking water and...more
Chemours Co., E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Inc., and Corteva, Inc. on Friday said they had reached an agreement in principle to pay $1.19 billion to settle claims that they contaminated U.S. public water systems with...more
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report on November 3, 2022, entitled Renewable Fuel Standard: Actions Needed to Improve Decision-Making in the Small Refinery Exemption Program. The Renewable Fuel...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final rule on September 2, 2022, establishing an optional alternative renewable identification number (RIN) retirement schedule for small refineries under the...more
The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has recently finalized volumes for compliance years 2020, 2021, and 2022 under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”)’s renewable fuel standard (“RFS”) program and took several other related...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Administrator issued a March 4th Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part a Petition for Objection to Permit (“Order”) for a BP products North America, Inc. (“BP”)...more
On December 7, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released its proposed 2020, 2021, and 2022 Renewable Volume Obligations (“RVOs”). RVOs determine the amount of renewable fuel (typically, ethanol) certain...more
On December 14, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is proposing to deny all undecided/pending small refinery exemption petitions under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. ...more
On December 7, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed the long-awaited and much anticipated renewable fuel targets for 2020, 2021, and 2022 under the federal Clean Air Act’s (“CAA”) Renewable Fuel...more
The biofuels industry has had a challenging season in the courts. Several weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit that had limited EPA’s ability to grant...more
In its June 25, 2021 decision in HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC v. Renewable Fuels Association, the Supreme Court rejected the central holding of a January 2020 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth...more
On June 25, 2021, the Supreme Court decided HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC v. Renewable Fuels Association, et al., Slip Op. 20-472 (June 25, 2021), which concerned small refiners’ eligibility for hardship exemptions...more
On June 25, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court decided HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining LLC v. Renewable Fuels Association, No. 20-472, holding that a small refinery can apply for a hardship exemption from the Environmental...more
On June 25, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with small oil refineries by making it easier for the companies to win exemptions from the existing mandate that they mix ethanol and other renewable fuels into gasoline and...more
It’s hard to find a relevant regulatory agency in the United States that isn’t regulating per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS). EPA describes PFAS presence in the environment as “one of the most pressing issues...more
Data is in from EPA’s “work practice” requirement that petroleum refineries monitor ambient air for benzene concentrations around their fence lines. The regulations set an “action level” of 9 µg/m3 benzene, using benzene as a...more