A coalition of national ethanol groups, along with California and Midwest farming groups, have filed a brief urging the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a court-ordered injunction on the California Air Resource Board’s low-carbon fuel standard. At issue is California’s request for a stay of the injunction issued by District Court Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill when he ruled in December that the new fuel regulation issued by CARB violated the Commerce Clause and was therefore unconstitutional.

The Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy believe California is using its leverage as the largest single state in the U.S. ethanol market to try to force producers in other states to reduce emissions in those states—not California.  The Commerce Clause forbids regulations like the LCFS, where one state tries to regulate activity in another state.

In the brief, RFA and Growth Energy argue that staying Judge O’Neill’s injunction would harm and disrupt the Midwest ethanol industry, but would not appreciably advance the goals of the LCFS. Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis and RFA CEO Bob Dinneen say – if we are going to have a low-carbon society, we need to have a low-carbon fuel. Ethanol is the only commercially-viable, low-carbon fuel we have today.

Courtesy: NAFB News