AFPM, groups challenge Oregon’s low-carbon fuel standard

March 24, 2015
Oregon’s low-carbon fuel standard violates the US constitution, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, American Trucking Associations, and Consumer Energy Alliance jointly charged in a lawsuit filed in US District Court for Oregon.

Oregon’s low-carbon fuel standard violates the US constitution, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, American Trucking Associations, and Consumer Energy Alliance jointly charged in a lawsuit filed in US District Court for Oregon.

The program is unconstitutional because it would discriminate against transportation fuels produced outside the state, with the intent to promote and development in-state fuel production, and attempts to regulate conduct outside Oregon, the groups said in their Mar. 23 filing.

Implementing Oregon’s LCFS also would violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, since the Clean Air Act and other federal laws preempt regulation transportation fuels’ carbon and renewable fuel content, they added.

“Greenhouse gas emissions have the same impact regardless of where they are emitted, and forcing the consumption of low carbon fuels in Oregon—or in any state—will not reduce global carbon emissions due to fuel shuffling,” AFPM General Counsel Rich Moskowitz said.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].