The petition, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, asks that EPA's decision be remanded back to the agency and requests judicial oversight and review over whether EPA's "partial waiver" approval for E15 fuels violates the federal Clean Air Act provisions, which expressly limit the circumstances under which EPA can approve applications for new fuels and fuel additives.
The petition challenges the ability of EPA to grant a partial waiver for three reasons: The Clean Air Act does not authorize EPA to issue any "partial waiver" decisions. EPA's own statute passed by Congress in 2007 states that fuels can't be approved for the market that could cause any failures. Yet, E15 has been shown to adversely affect engines in non-road products and later model year vehicles, cause emission failures and increase air pollution due to misfueling. Further, administrative records fail to demonstrate that even new model-year motor vehicles (other than "flexible-fuel vehicles") would not be damaged and result in failures when run on E15. The testing, upon which EPA made its decision, was put in the administrative record too late to permit meaningful comment or scrutiny from concerned groups and stakeholders.
"Our organizations collectively represent some 400 million engine products used by tens of millions of people every day in the U.S. The safe and reliable use of those products is paramount to us and our customers, and the legal action we take today is to protect those customers," said Kris Kiser, executive vice president of OPEI, speaking on behalf of the EPG.
"While all members of the EPG have and continue to support the development and use of safe and sustainable alternative fuels, the action EPA has taken to permit E15 to be sold as a legal fuel, even if limited only to certain products, will have adverse consequences for the environment and consumers. A partial waiver, by its nature, necessarily will result in the misfueling of products not designed or tested for E-15 use," he added.
"AIAM supports renewable fuels, including ethanol. Our concern is that EPA prematurely granted the partial waiver before critical studies on the effects of E15 use were completed. We want to be sure that any new fuel will not increase air pollution, harm engines or endanger consumer safety," said AIAM's president and CEO, Michael J. Stanton. "We are pursuing this legal action reluctantly and remain committed to continuing to work with the administration and other stakeholders to establish prospective, performance-based targets to address the challenging issues related to the introduction of new fuels into the marketplace."
NMMA President Thom Dammrich added, "NMMA regrets having to pursue litigation on this matter, but it is clear that EPA has not fulfilled its statutory obligations to ensure the safe introduction of E15. Consequently, we and our industry partners have determined that it is necessary to seek relief in the courts in order to protect our manufacturers and our consumers."
Added Kiser, "The partial waiver for E15 sets a bad precedent of how to introduce a new fuel. This partial waiver would allow fuel to come on the market with inadequate testing, inadequate misfueling controls and without a dedicated legacy fuel for use in those products for which E-15 was not approved."
Click herefor a fact sheet on the joint petition filing.
Growth Energy, an ethanol industry trade group, petitioned the EPA in March 2009 to raise the limit on ethanol in gasoline from 10% to 15%. Several engine product and auto manufacturers as well as others urged EPA to be deliberative in its review process, assuring thorough and adequate testing to assure that E15 would not harm existing products or pose safety risks.
By approving E15 use in a small subset of engines on the road, there is a high risk that consumers will unknowingly or mistakenly put E15 in products for which it has not been approved, EPG said.
Responding to the suit, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) said, "EPA could have avoided this kind of market confusion by following all the science to its logical conclusion and allowing the use of E15 for all cars and light-duty pickup trucks. The only way to meet the nation's energy, economic and environmental goals as put forth in the Renewable Fuels Standard is to increase ethanol consumption. Allowing for the use of E15 blends is a safe and appropriate step toward meeting these goals. The RFA will continue to press for the safe and effective use of higher-level ethanol blends in both conventional as well as flexible fuel vehicles."
Alliance is a trade association of 12 car and light truck manufacturers, including BMW Group, Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda North America, Mercedes-Benz USA, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche Cars North America, Toyota Motors North America, Inc., Volkswagen Group of America and Volvo Cars North America.
AIAM is a trade association representing 15 international motor vehicle manufacturers who account for more than 45% of all passenger cars and light trucks sold annually in the United States.
NMMA is the leading association representing the recreational boating industry in North America. NMMA member companies produce more than 80% of the boats, engines, trailers, accessories and gear used by boaters and anglers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
OPEI is an international trade association representing more than 80 engine and equipment manufacturers worldwide in the utility, forestry, landscape and lawn and garden industry.
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