Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-472_0pm1.pdf
Page Number: 21.0

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

To start, Congress in subparagraph (A)(i) gave all small 
refineries—including petitioners (HollyFrontier)—a “[t]em-
porary  exemption”  from  the  program’s  renewable-fuel  re-
quirements; the exemption ran from the RFP’s passage in 
2005 until 2011.  42 U. S. C. §7545(o)(9)(A)(i).  Then, in sub-
paragraph (A)(ii), Congress directed the Department of En-
ergy to conduct a study—to be completed no later than the 
end  of  2008—to  determine  whether  compliance  with  the 
RFP “would impose a disproportionate economic hardship 
on small refineries.”  §7545(o)(9)(A)(ii)(I).  If so, the statute 
provides,  EPA  “shall  extend  the  exemption”  initially  en-
joyed by all small refineries “for a period of not less than 2 
additional years.”  §7545(o)(9)(A)(ii)(II).

Congress also provided small refineries an avenue to pe-
tition for an “extension” of these initial exemptions.  This is 
the provision at the heart of this case: 

“A small refinery may at any time petition [EPA] for
an extension of the exemption under subparagraph (A) 
for the reason of disproportionate economic hardship.”
§7545(o)(9)(B)(i). 

Deciding that this subparagraph uses “extension” to mean 
“continuation”  should  be  an  easy  call.  Following  Holly-
Frontier’s lead, however, the Court forgoes the obvious answer. 

A 
HollyFrontier lays its cards on the table.  It does not dis-
pute that when used to refer to “an increase in the length of 
time,”  the  word  “extension”  can—and  commonly  does—
refer to something that is prolonged without interruption. 
Brief for Petitioners 29.  Yet, HollyFrontier insists, the term 
“extension” is not always used that way.  Instead, it might 
sometimes refer to a “non-continuous extension”—in other 
words, an extension of something that used to exist but no 
longer  does.  Ibid.  Because  there  is  “nothing  unnatural” 
about reading the term this way, HollyFrontier urges us to