LEGAL BRIEF: Trade Associations for Alternative Fuels Take Aim at EPA's New Vehicle Emissions Standards

On 17 June 2024, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the National Farmers Union (NFU) filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, challenging the Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April 2024.

The RFA and the NFU are trade associations representing ethanol producers and supporters of the ethanol industry, as well as farmers who are producers of biofuel feedstocks and consumers of large quantities of fuel.

RFA stated in a press release that the “EPA clearly lacked the authority to adopt the regulation.” The association believes that the regulation “essentially mandates the production of battery electric vehicles while, at the same time, ignoring other technologies-like low-carbon ethanol and flex fuel vehicles-that reduce emissions from light- and medium-duty transportation.”

“We are disappointed that the EPA has missed a critical opportunity to recognize the significant benefits of higher-level ethanol blends in its recent regulation,” said Rob Larew, President, NFU.

In response to 3E's request for comments on the petition, Remmington Belford, EPA's Press Secretary, indicated, “Because this is pending litigation, EPA has no further information to add.”

Related Petitions

This is the latest petition filed to review the emissions standards finalized by EPA on 18 April 2024. On the same day when these standards were published in the Federal Register, the attorneys general of 25 states, including Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Virginia, filed a petition to review them.

The petitioners allege that the final rule “exceeds the agency's statutory authority” and is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law.” Consequently, the states asked the court to declare these standards unlawful and vacate the agency's final action.

Since this petition was filed in April, a wide range of parties have joined the fight in different roles, either as petitioners against the vehicle emissions standards or intervenors supporting the EPA's position. Since April 2024, a total of seven additional petitions against the vehicle emissions standards have been filed and consolidated under the original petition.

For instance, the state of Texas, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, and the National Corn Growers Association have filed their own petitions to review the EPA emissions standards.

Meanwhile, various states, such as California, Maryland, and New York, along with environmental groups, have joined the petitions in support of the EPA's position.

Notably, Ford Motor Company, one of America's leading automobile manufacturers, has joined the petition as an intervenor supporting the EPA. In its motion, Ford expresses its support for “EPA's efforts to regulate greenhouse gases and other emissions from new light- and medium-duty motor vehicles.”

EPA’s Vehicle Emissions Standards

EPA's vehicle emissions standards in question apply to passenger cars, light trucks, and heavier vehicles designed primarily for the transportation of people. These standards establish stricter requirements for pollutants such as particulate matter (PM), ozone, nitrogen oxides (NOX), and greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles for model years 2027 through 2032 and beyond.

“With transportation as the largest source of U.S. climate emissions, these strongest-ever pollution standards for cars solidify America's leadership in building a clean transportation future and creating good-paying American jobs, all while advancing President Biden's historic climate agenda,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan in a press release published by the EPA.

“Light- and medium-duty vehicles accounted for approximately 23 percent, 20 percent, and 52 percent of 2023 mobile source NOX, PM2.5, and VOC emissions, respectively,” the final rule indicated.

According to the press release issued by the agency, the vehicle emissions standards will “avoid more than 7 billion tons of carbon emissions and provide nearly $100 billion of annual net benefits to society.” This benefit includes $13 billion of annual public health benefits due to improved air quality and $62 billion in reduced annual fuel costs, and maintenance and repair costs for drivers.

The EPA notes that this rule was finalized “as sales of clean vehicles, including plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles, hit record highs last year.”

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