Federal judges last week probed a range of critiques of EPA’s new biofuels standards — but did not tip their hand on which way they may rule in the case.
During oral arguments Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit considered claims from refiners that EPA failed to consider the cost of complying with its rule and from environmental groups that the agency ignored the impact of its biofuels program on climate change and vulnerable species.
The case centered on EPA’s rule under the renewable fuel standard, or RFS, establishing volume and percentage requirements for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel from 2023 to 2025.
EPA’s biofuels standard is a “classic case of arbitrary and unreasoned decisionmaking,” said Carrie Apfel, an Earthjustice attorney representing the National Wildlife Federation.
