Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-472_0pm1.pdf
Page Number: 7.0

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

petitioned  for  an  exemption  again  under  subparagraph 
(B)(i).  HollyFrontier  Woods  Cross  Refining  LLC  received 
only  the  blanket  exemption  under  subparagraph  (A)(i)
through 2010.  See Renewable Fuels Assn. v. EPA, 948 F. 3d 
1206,  1228  (CA10  2020).    Wynnewood  Refining  Company 
received the blanket exemption under subparagraph (A)(i) 
and a 2-year extension under subparagraph (A)(ii) through
2012.  Id., at 1229.  HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining LLC
received subparagraph (A)(i)’s blanket exemption, subpar-
agraph  (A)(ii)’s  2-year  extension,  and  then  subparagraph 
(B)(i)’s hardship exemption in 2015.  Id., at 1227.  After a 
lull, all three refineries petitioned for a hardship exemption 
under subparagraph (B)(i) in 2017 or 2018.  EPA granted 
all three. 

A group of renewable fuel producers objected.  They peti-
tioned  for  review  of  EPA’s  decisions  in  the  Tenth  Circuit, 
arguing  the  Agency  acted  “in  excess  of  statutory  jurisdic-
tion, authority, or limitations” by granting the petitions.  5 
U. S. C. §706(2)(C).  The court vacated EPA’s decisions.  It 
concluded the refineries were ineligible for an “extension” 
of their exemptions because all three had allowed their ex-
emptions to lapse at some point in the past.  948 F. 3d, at 
1249.  We granted review to consider the question for our-
selves.  592 U. S. ___ (2021). 

II 
A 

Where Congress does not furnish a definition of its own, 
we generally seek to afford a statutory term “its ordinary or
natural  meaning.”  FDIC  v.  Meyer,  510  U. S.  471,  476 
(1994).  Before us, the parties agree on one thing:  The key 
word here—“extension”—is nowhere defined in the statute 
and it can mean different things depending on context.

Sometimes, as the renewable fuel producers observe and 
the court of appeals held, an “extension” can refer to an in-
crease in time.  See, e.g., 5 Oxford English Dictionary 597