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HOLLYFRONTIER CHEYENNE REFINING, LLC v. 
RENEWABLE FUELS ASSN. 
Opinion of the Court 

For years after that, Congress has largely left it to the En-
vironmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set the applicable
volumes.  §7545(o)(2)(B)(ii).

From the start, EPA has apportioned the nationwide vol-
ume  mandates  into  individualized  ones  for  each  refinery. 
§7545(o)(3)(B); 40 CFR §80.1407(a) (2020).  The Agency po-
lices these mandates with a system of credits.  Each credit 
represents the blending of a certain quantity of renewable 
fuel.  42  U. S. C.  §7545(o)(5)(A)(i);  40  CFR  §§80.1415,
80.1429.  A refinery that blends renewables may either “re-
tire” the credits it has earned (i.e., use them) to satisfy its
own RFP volume obligation—or sell those credits to a dif-
ferent  producer 
42  U. S. C. 
§7545(o)(5)(B); 40 CFR §§80.1425–80.1427.  Any given re-
finery may therefore comply with the law thanks to its own 
blending efforts, the purchase of credits from someone else, 
or a combination of both. 

that  needs 

them. 

it  carried 

Congress tempered its mandates in other ways too.  For 
example, if a refinery is unable to generate or purchase suf-
ficient credits in a given year, it may “carry forward” any 
deficit to the following year.  42 U. S. C. §7545(o)(5)(D).  But 
this reprieve has a snowball effect.  The next year, the re-
finery  must  offset  the  deficit 
forward. 
§7545(o)(5)(D)(ii).    Elsewhere,  Congress  authorized  more 
sweeping relief:  EPA may waive RFP obligations in a par-
ticular State or region if it determines they “would severely
harm the economy or environment” or if “there is an inade-
quate domestic supply.”  §7545(o)(7)(A).  That waiver lasts 
for only one year, “but [it] may be renewed.”  §7545(o)(7)(C).
Most important for our case, however, is a different, if re-
lated, set of tempering features.  Evidently, Congress was 
concerned that escalating RFP obligations could work spe-
cial  burdens  on  small  refineries  that  lack  the  “inherent 
scale advantages of large refineries,” Sinclair Wyoming Re-
fining  Co.  v.  EPA,  887  F. 3d  986,  989  (CA10  2017),  and