Supreme Court rejects appeal to allow E-15 sales year round

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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Supreme-Court-rejects-appeal-to-allow-E-15-sales-16763911.php

Supreme Court rejects appeal to allow E-15 sales year round
James Osborne
Jan. 10, 2022

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from ethanol companies arguing for the reinstatement of a Trump-era policy allowing the year-round sales of E-15, a form of gasoline that contains a higher concentration of ethanol.

The decision leaves in place a ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that the EPA under Trump had exceeded its authority in granting E-15 an exemption from pollution rules that limit the amount of ethanol in fuel during the summer, when warmer temperatures cause ozone levels to increase, resulting in a variety of respiratory ailments.

The decision to allow E-15 sales came as part of a grand bargain orchestrated by Trump between ethanol producers and refineries, in which sales of E-15 were expanded at the same time exemptions to federal ethanol blending requirement were awarded to smaller refineries that could claim financial hardship.

But shortly after EPA finalized the policy change in 2019, refineries led by the trade group American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufactures challenged the decision in the D.C. Circuit.