D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rules EPA and FWS discounted biofuels’ harm in 2023-25 RFS

In Washington, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service unlawfully discounted the harms to threatened and endangered wildlife of the EPA’s 2023-2025 renewable fuel standards. The court held that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s conclusion that the renewable fuel standards had “no effect” on endangered species was arbitrary. The EPA had predicted significant land conversion resulting from the rule and had predicted potential harms to numerous threatened and endangered species.

The court sent the 2023-2025 rule back to the federal agencies for further analysis to ensure that it fully accounts for potential harms to imperiled species.