Court Blocks EPA Biofuels Mandate

The big news on court decisions was about the Obama violating the Constitution when he made 3 recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (which made Lawyers, Guns, and Money’s Scott Lemieux go barking moonbat with his headline). Yet, another was just as important but slid under the rada

(Daily Caller) A federal court delivered a serious blow to the Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel agenda, ruling that the agency exceeded its authority by mandating refiners use cellulosic biofuels, which isn’t commercially available.

The court sided with the country’s chief oil and gas lobby, the American Petroleum Institute, in striking down the 2012 EPA mandate that would have forced refineries to purchase more than $8 million in credits for 8.65 million of gallons of the cellulosic biofuel. However, none of the biofuel is commercially available.

“[W]e agree with API that EPA’s 2012 projection of cellulosic biofuel production was in excess of the agency’s statutory authority,” reads the court decision.

The problem here is that cellulosic biofuel doesn’t exist commercially

“We are glad the court has put a stop to EPA’s pattern of setting impossible mandates for a biofuel that does not even exist,” API Group Downstream Director Bob Greco said in a statement. “This absurd mandate acts as a stealth tax on gasoline with no environmental that could have ultimately burdened consumers.”

Instead of dealing with real environmental issues, the EPA has gone rogue (not something really new) and has over-involved itself in creating fuel mandates that provide no benefits for motorists (and can harm engine systems along with providing reduced power) and would increase the price of fuel, all in the name of “climate change”. And let’s not forget that all these biofuels tend to use massive amounts of water, increase the cost of food, and, in some cases, increase greenhouse gas output. In this particular case it was about mandating the purchase and use of a biofuel that didn’t exist.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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