The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when it included biodiesel from Argentina under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for obligated parties to use when meeting their volume obligations. Back in 2015, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) filed a petition with the EPA urging them to change their rulemaking that allowed foreign biodiesel to be included under the RFS. As part of this law, the fuel producers were required to prove that the feedstocks used in the production of biodiesel were grown on land before 2007 to ensure the biodiesel was sustainably produced.

The Appeals judge wrote that the requirement was “neither arbitrary nor capricious, as it comports with agency regulations and rests upon the kind of highly technical judgments to which we owe agencies great deference.”

In response to the ruling, NBB Vice President of Federal Affairs, Anne Steckel, stated, “We think EPA’s decision has negative implications for the industry, which is why we challenged, so we’re still reviewing the court’s decision and looking at our options. The domestic biodiesel industry is a resounding success story under the Renewable Fuel Standard program, and NBB is committed to supporting a strong and robust program.”