Long Odds for Lawsuits Against EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2)
6/11/2010

Summary:

Stoel Rives attorney Graham Noyes discussed in Ethanol Producer Magazine the difficulties facing groups mounting challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2). Clean Air Task Force and Friends of the Earth recently filed a lawsuit against the RFS2, arguing that the EPA used outdated data in its findings on land conversion. Clean Air Task Force also demanded that EPA account for a so-called "global rebound effect," which the group described as displacing gasoline with biofuels, which lowers petroleum demand, followed by lower prices, which then leads to both increased consumption of oil and higher green house gas ("GHG") emissions in other countries.

Noyes said these and other judicial challenges to RFS2 will likely have a tough time convincing the courts to side against the EPA. "[Assessing GHG] was obviously a very controversial issue during the rulemaking, it's technically very complicated. I think so long as the EPA is making good faith efforts to uphold the statutes, it's going to be upheld. On Clean Air Task Force's "global rebound effect" argument, Noyes said it "essentially … assigns a penalty for reducing the use of fossil fuel. It's somewhat difficult to see how the United States can do anything to reduce GHG emissions, if it penalizes itself when it is successful."

"Lawsuits against EPA have challenge ahead" was published by Ethanol Producer Magazine, June 10, 2010.