Attorney General Says EPA Action on Ethanol Not Legal

Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Agency/Executive Branch, Federal Litigation, Federal Regulation, Iowa, Opinions, Policy

February 5, 2014

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by Matt Kelley (RadioIowa) Legions of people lately have pleaded in public hearings for the federal Environmental Protection Agency to maintain the amount of ethanol required to be blended into gasoline, but Iowa’s top lawyer says there’s another better tactic.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says based upon his interpretation of the law, the EPA simply lacks the authority to cut volume requirements in the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS. “The EPA does not have the power under these circumstances to reduce the targets for renewable fuel,” Miller says. “The section they’re going under refers to inadequate domestic supply — can enough renewable fuel be produced — and pretty clearly, it can.”

Miller says the EPA is misinterpreting the Renewable Fuel Standard law, especially when it comes to that key phrase, “inadequate domestic supply.” “They say that phrase is ambiguous and they go on to interpret it to include challenges in distribution,” Miller says. “We’re saying, oh, no, it says ‘inadequate domestic supply’ and that’s what they mean, supply, and the supply is there, so you don’t have the authority to make the reductions.” READ MORE and MORE (The Farmer’s Exchange)

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