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14 

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

sense because a small refinery’s compliance in one year is
in no way dispositive of its ability to comply in a future year. 
Instead, compliance depends on numerous factors unique to 
each year and circumstances over which small refineries of-
ten have no control.  Brief for Petitioners 42–44.  In partic-
ular, most small refineries cannot comply with RFP man-
dates but must purchase credits from those that can.  Each 
year  more  credits  are  required.    And  the  price  for  those 
credits reflect the famously volatile nature of the fuel mar-
ket—in one recent year, prices shot up by as much as 100%.
See id., at 45.  Aware of these market realities, the small 
refineries say, a rational Congress could have created (and
did create) a means for small refineries to seek a hardship 
exemption “at  any  time”  rather  than  be  forced  to  exit  the
market. 

The petitioners say their “safety valve” analogy fits better 
for  other  reasons  too.  As  the  dissent  acknowledges,  Con-
gress included many other “safety valve” provisions to ad-
dress  various  challenges  to  the  market  that  may  arise  at 
any time, including regional shortages and economic hard-
ships.  Post, at 8–10.  Surely, Congress could have chosen 
to provide similar relief targeted to small refineries.  Nor is 
there anything odd about the fact that Congress chose only 
to  protect  existing  small  refineries  rather  than  new  en-
trants.  Often Congress chooses to protect existing market 
participants from shifts in the law while applying new re-
strictions fully to future entrants.  Maybe, too, the petition-
ers  suggest,  Congress  wasn’t  particularly  concerned  with
new entrants in 2008 because, until last year, there had not 
been a new refinery of any size in this country for almost 50 
years.  See Blackmon, First Major U. S. Oil Refinery Since
1977 Targets Bakken Shale Crude, Forbes (July 25, 2020),
https: // www.forbes.com / sites /davidblackmon / 2020 / 07/25/
first - new - us-oil-refinery-since-1977-targets-bakken-shale-
crude/.