An ethanol coalition has filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
The Renewable Fuels Association, the Advanced Coalition for Ethanol, National Corn Growers, and the National Farmers Union are suing the EPA to challenge several waivers to the Renewable Fuels Standard, given out in secret to several profitable refineries. The groups are challenging three specific decisions that were made under clandestine conditions.
The EPA gave exemptions to refineries in Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Utah. The companies that own the three refineries have estimated in financial disclosures that the exemptions saved them roughly $170 million in costs. The petitioners aren’t challenging the EPA’s authority to grant the waivers. They’re challenging these three decisions as specific abuses of the EPA’s authority.
Bob Dineen, CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, says the EPA is trying to undermine the RFS under the cover of night.
Brian Jennings, CEO of ACE, says the EPA left them no choice but to file suit. “They’re distorting the intent of the law by granting secret hardship waivers under the cover of night,” says Jennings. “We cannot sit by and allow the EPA to violate the RFS, which requires increasing the use of renewable fuels in the U.S.”
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.