Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-472_0pm1.pdf
Page Number: 31.0

12 

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

n. 6.  But in any event, the Court’s account does not seem 
to prove that subparagraph (A) permits a “laps[e].”  Ante, at 
10.  What  EPA  may  “extend”  via  subparagraph  (A)(ii)  is 
“the exemption under clause (i)”—that is, the initial, auto-
matic exemption that excused all small refineries from com-
pliance  through  2010.  The  “exemption  under  clause  (i)” 
thus existed in the year 2010 by virtue of statute, even if a 
particular refinery was not in a position to take advantage 
of it.  “Extending” that exemption into 2011—should the re-
finery once again qualify for small-refinery status—would 
thus appear to be consistent with  respondents’ reading of 
the term.  Regardless, any ambiguity about the functioning
of subparagraph (A) cannot save an argument that is oth-
erwise  overwhelmed  by  the  term’s  ordinary  meaning  and 
other aspects of the RFP’s structure. 

II 
The Court declines to “pick sides” in the parties’ dispute 
over which reading of subparagraph (B)(i) best fulfills con-
gressional  purpose.  Ante,  at  15.  At  the  same  time,  the 
Court  criticizes  respondents’  reading  for  causing  the 
“strange  effect”  of  treating  the  least  compliant  refineries 
most favorably.  Ibid.  In the Court’s telling, extensions that 
function as waivers (its view) give refineries that comply in 
some years a boost when they need help.  Extensions that 
prolong a grace period (respondents’ view) reward refiner-
ies that never manage to comply. 

But respondents’ argument that subparagraph (B)(i) ex-
tensions  give  small  refineries  an  initial  runway—rather 
than a down-the-road safety valve—is not at all odd if, as 
respondents  assert,  Congress  intended  the  RFP  to  funnel
all  refineries  into  eventual  compliance.5   Maybe  respond-
ents’ story about the statute’s purpose is right; maybe it is 

—————— 

5 This funneling effect started to play out.  Although about half of all 
small  refineries  initially  received  study- or  petition-based  extensions,