Representatives of the biofuels&nbsp;industry on Feb. 28 filed two separate petitions in with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging a<a href="http://ethanolproducer.com/articles/18857/epaundefineds-final-vehicle-emissions-rule-fails-to-address-biofuels" target="_blank">&nbsp;final rule issued by the U.S. EPA in December</a>&nbsp;setting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for model year (MY) 2023-2026 passenger cars and light trucks.
In one petition, the Clean Fuels Development Coalition, ICM Inc., the Illinois Corn Growers Association, the Indiana Corn Growers Association, the Kansas Corn Growers Association, the Kentucky Corn Growers Association, the Michigan Corn Growers Association, the Missouri Corn Growers Association and Valero Renewable Fuels Co. LLC&mdash;collectively referred to as the ethanol petitioners&mdash;ask the court to review the vehicle emission rule, claiming it exceeds the EPA&rsquo;s authority and favors one GHG reducing technology over others.
&ldquo;The Ethanol Petitioners support reducing greenhouse gas emissions of the domestic transportation fleet consistent with the authority granted EPA in the Clean Air Act and with Congress&rsquo;s directives in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which created the current Renewable Fuel Standard program to compel EPA to expand the nation&rsquo;s renewable fuel sector in support of the nation&rsquo;s environmental, energy, climate, and energy-security policy,&rdquo; the ethanol petitioners wrote. &ldquo;The final rule challenged here, however, exceeds EPA&rsquo;s authority, implicating serious separation of powers concerns by purporting to arrogate to EPA the authority to effectively mandate the production and sale of electric cars rather than cars powered by internal combustion engines. In designing a rule to intentionally favor one greenhouse gas reducing technology (electrification) over others (for example, high-octane, low-carbon fuels made with ethanol), EPA has claimed a new authority to unilaterally transform the U.S. transportation fuel infrastructure&mdash;a transformation that Congress did not authorize in the Clean Air Act and that conflicts with the Renewable Fuel Standard. The composition of the country&rsquo;s vehicle fleet is precisely the kind of transformative issue that courts have increasingly recognized that Congress must address directly and that agencies may not claim new authority to regulate. For these and other reasons, the Ethanol Petitioners seek this Court&rsquo;s review of the final rule.&rdquo;
A separate petition filed by the soybean associations for the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, and South Dakota, along with Diamond Alternative Energy LLC, challenges the vehicle emissions rule on similar grounds. &ldquo;Petitioners support EPA&rsquo;s goal of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the domestic transportation fleet consistent with Congressional directives in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which created the current Renewable Fuel Standard program to compel EPA to expand the nation&rsquo;s renewable fuel sector in support of U.S. environmental, energy, climate, and energy security policy,&rdquo; the soybean groups said in their petition. &ldquo;However, the final rule exceeds EPA&rsquo;s authority by favoring one technology, electric vehicles, over others, including the comparably clean renewable fuels produced by Petitioners. Through the final rule, EPA seeks to unilaterally alter the transportation mix in the United States, without Congressional authorization and without adequately considering the vast greenhouse gas reduction benefits provided by renewable fuels. For these and other reasons, Petitioners seek this Court&rsquo;s review of the final rule.&rdquo;
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Representatives of the biofuels industry on Feb. 28 filed two separate petitions in with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging a final rule issued by the EPA in December setting GHG emissions standards for MY 2023-2026 vehicles.	

Ag groups challenge EPA's vehicle emissions rule

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