EPA must revisit aspects of a biofuel volumes mandate it set in 2023, a federal court ruled Friday, while allowing the agency’s regulation to stay in place.
In a consolidated set of cases, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit turned away most of the complaints from environmental and industry groups to the 2023 biofuel regulations.
But the court agreed that two elements of EPA’s decision were flawed: The environmental agency didn’t adequately explain why it relied on outdated information about biofuels’ potential impact on climate change; and the Fish and Wildlife Service, in contributing to the rule, didn’t fully explain its own conclusion that endangered species wouldn’t be harmed.
At the center of the case is a multifaceted rule EPA published in 2023 to set minimum volumes for various biofuels as part of the renewable fuel standard, as well as to amend some of the relevant regulations. Biofuels may come directly from crops or from other agricultural sources such as fats and oils.
