Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-472_0pm1.pdf
Page Number: 27.0

8 

HOLLYFRONTIER CHEYENNE REFINING, LLC v. 
RENEWABLE FUELS ASSN. 
BARRETT, J., dissenting 

definition is broad enough to encompass one sense of a word
does not establish that the word is ordinarily understood in 
that sense.”  Taniguchi, 566 U. S., at 568.  Because respond-
ents’ interpretation of “extension” is “far more natural,” id., 
at 569, it is the presumptive favorite—barring compelling 
evidence  to  the  contrary  in  the  statute’s  structure.    As  it 
turns out, statutory structure favors respondents’ reading 
too. 

B 
1 
Four structural features of the RFP, in particular, cut for

respondents’ interpretation and against the Court’s. 

First, respondents’ reading of “extension” tracks the only
other use of the term in the RFP.  A nearby “[w]aiver” pro-
vision allows EPA to issue an “order to reduce, for up to a 
60-day period,” the biomass-based diesel fuel requirements
under  certain  conditions.    §7545(o)(7)(E)(ii).  In  a  related 
provision entitled “[e]xtensions,” Congress authorized EPA
to  reduce  those  requirements  “for  up  to  an  additional  60-
day period” based on an assessment that the conditions are 
“continuing  beyond” 
“60-day  period.” 
§7545(o)(7)(E)(iii).  This provision, like respondents’ inter-
pretation,  uses  “extension”  to  reference  a  continuation  of 
something that presently exists.  Cf. ante, at 5 (noting that
“absent  contrary  evidence,  this  Court  normally  presumes
consistent usage”). 

the  original 

Second, the RFP is replete with express grants of waiver 
authority  of  the  type  the  Court  reads  into  subparagraph
(B)(i)’s reference to “extension[s].”  The statute’s “general”
waiver  provision  specifies  that  EPA,  under  certain  eco-
nomic  or  fuel-market  conditions,  “may  waive  the  require-
ments” of the RFP “in whole or in part on petition by” refin-
eries, among other entities.  §7545(o)(7)(A).  As discussed, 
EPA also has express standalone waiver authority with re-
spect to biomass-based diesel levels.  See §7545(o)(7)(E)(ii)