Cellulosic Biofuel Mandate
The U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)
rules setting quotas for cellulosic
biofuels use. These quotas began
after passage of a law in 2007 to encourage “advanced” biofuels.
Production of cellulosic biofuels has been slower than projected. The American
Petroleum Institute, which brought the suit against the EPA, argued that
gasoline refiners were required to meet a requirement they had little control
over meeting. The cellulosic biofuel producers
were getting all the carrots; the gas producers were getting all the sticks.
The court
more or less agreed. They found that the
quota was not consistent with likely Congressional
intent. In addition, the rule differed
from other environmental regulation in that the group regulated, refiners, was
not the group in control of the technology the agency wanted to develop,
producers of cellulosic biofuels.
This is not a complete overturn of quotas for advanced biofuels
use. There are more widely available non-cellulosic
biofuels that meet the legal definition of advanced biofuels that the agency
can substitute to keep up the quota.
Stormwater Is Not a Pollutant
EPA also lost a case in federal district court related to stormwater
discharges. EPA rules established in
2011 limited stormwater discharges into Accontic
Creek, a tributary of the Potomac
River. Virginia
sued claiming that EPA only has the authority to limit pollutants, not the discharge
of stormwater itself. The court agreed.
So far, it is not common for EPA to regulate stormwater discharge as a
surrogate for setting limits on the pollutants in stormwater. They have used the strategy only in Virginia
and Missouri.
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