US court ruling on EPA authority boosts biofuel producers

Chicago

THE Trump administration may have to reconsider its proposal from earlier this month to curb biofuel use after a US appeals court in Washington ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doesn't have the authority to cut quotas while citing inadequate domestic supply.

Issued last Friday, the unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel comes amid conflicting legal challenges to actions taken by the EPA. Some factions claim the agency set renewable fuel requirements too high, while others said they're too low. Shares of ethanol producers rose on the news while refinery stocks declined.

US Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote that EPA isn't allowed "to consider the volume of renewable fuel that is available to ultimate consumers or the demand-side constraints that affect the consumption of renewable fuel by consumers". The ethanol industry hailed the court's move as a victory. Earlier this month, the Trump administration issued a proposal that for the first time would cut the amount of renewables that …