Ethanol groups Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association have filed a complaint in Federal District Court in Fresno, California, concerning the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard or LCFS.
The Ethanol Groups said that LCFS, must be based on sound science and must be consistent with the U.S. Constitution, and alleged that California's LCFS is fundamentally flawed in both respects.
It is to be noted that, in April 2009, California's Air Resources Board adopted a regulation that will implement LCFS calling for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from California's transportation fuels by 10% by 2020.
The Ethanol groups claimed that LCFS erects new regulatory obstacles to ethanol, frustrates the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, and also threatens the nationwide market for domestic ethanol.
In a statement, the Ethanol Groups said, "As structured, it violates both the Supremacy Clause and the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution"
In addition, the Ethanol Groups said that by closing the State's borders to corn ethanol from other states, the LCFS will change how corn is farmed and ethanol is produced all over the country, and that LCFS imposes excessive burdens on the entire domestic ethanol industry.
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