AFPM seeks new hearing on California LCFS appeal decision

The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers petitioned a federal appeals court to rehear its argument that California’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) violates the US Constitution’s interstate commerce clause.
Oct. 3, 2013

The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers petitioned a federal appeals court to rehear its argument that California’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) violates the US Constitution’s interstate commerce clause.

AFPM’s Oct. 2 petition also said the US Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit’s Sept. 18 opinion conflicted with established US Supreme Court precedent by applying the wrong legal standard to a regulation that discriminates against interstate commerce on its face.

The opinion also ignored California’s numerous admissions that the state designed the LCFS specifically to help biofuels production within its borders grow at the expense of other states’ biofuels industries, the petition contended.

The appeals court, by 2 votes to 1, reversed a lower court’s decision that had declared the California LCFS unconstitutional (OGJ Online, Sept. 19, 2013). AFPM said it built its petition on Appeals Court Judge Mary H. Murguia’s dissent.

“The Court’s ruling sets a dangerous precedent,” AFPM General Counsel Rich Moskowitz said. “If California may penalize fuels based on the location of origin and the type of processes used to create them, it may likewise penalize every other imported product, whether it be oranges from Florida or cars from Michigan.”

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].

About the Author

Nick Snow

NICK SNOW covered oil and gas in Washington for more than 30 years. He worked in several capacities for The Oil Daily and was founding editor of Petroleum Finance Week before joining OGJ as its Washington correspondent in September 2005 and becoming its full-time Washington editor in October 2007. He retired from OGJ in January 2020. 

Sign up for Oil & Gas Journal Newsletters