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Sonia Sotomayor on Energy & Oil
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Expansive reading of EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act
Sotomayor, the third member of the court's liberal wing, is also thought to be a vote in favor of a more expansive reading of EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act. She voted alongside Kagan in Gundy.Kagan led the majority opinion in 2019's Gundy,
rejecting arguments that Congress had handed too much power to the executive branch. The case narrowly avoided a revival of the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine but provided justices a platform for revisiting the administrative law issue.
Source: GreenWire E&E News on 2021 EPA & climate SCOTUS cases
, Nov 3, 2021
No extensions for refineries' Renewable Fuel Program
On June 25, 2021, the Supreme Court decided HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining v. Renewable Fuels Association, which concerned small refiners' eligibility for hardship exemptions under the federal renewable fuels standards ("RFS") program. Three small fuel
refineries had each applied for a hardship exemption under the RFS program, and the EPA had granted each request. A group of renewable fuel producers then challenged those exemptions. By a vote of six to three, the Court held that the text of the
statute does not require that the exemption be held continually in order to remain valid.Justice Amy Coney Barrett dissented in an opinion joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. The dissenting justices argued that, while the majority
attributed to Congress a meaning of "extension" that is "possible," it did not give the term its "ordinary meaning." In the view of the dissenters, the "ordinary meaning" of "extension" excludes a firm that has allowed its prior exemption to lapse.
Source: JD Supra on 2021 EPA & climate SCOTUS cases
, Jul 14, 2021
Page last updated: Mar 21, 2022