CARB Motion for Case Reversal Denied

Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill has denied the California Air Resources Board's motion to stay the decision he issued on December 29, 2011 that had halted the enforcement of the California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulation because that regulation is unconstitutional.  Last Friday CARB filed papers asking the Court to reverse its decision and allow the state to continue implementing the LCFS in 2012.

Judge O'Neill noted that CARB sought not to preserve the "status quo" but rather to allow enforcement that imposes higher restrictions than had been imposed previously without citing any authority to show why the Court would have jurisdiction to grant that type of relief.

"Judge O'Neill's decision demonstrates the strength of our claims against the LCFS," Renewable Fuels Association president and chief executive officer Bob Dinneen and Growth Energy chief executive officer Tom Buis said in a joint statement. "The California LCFS seeks to regulate conduct outside its borders and is blatantly discriminatory and unconstitutional. American ethanol advocates will continue to oppose CARB's effort to reinstate this punitive policy that illegally seeks to dictate the production and transportation of ethanol and other fuels outside its border."

CARB has appealed Judge O'Neill's finding that the LCFS violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.  That litigation is in the 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals.