Oil, Food Industry Groups Sue To Stop E15 Ethanol

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

We’ve been tracking mounting opposition to E15 ethanol for some time now, and when the EPA approved the 15-percent corn juice blend for vehicles made in 2007 or later, we saw the opposition begin to crystalize. Now, the Detroit News reports that a number of oil, food and other interest groups have filed suit in a D.C. Circuit appeals court, seeking to halt the EPA’s approval of E15. According to the DetN

The petitioners argue that under the Clean Air Act, the EPA administrator may only grant a waiver for a new fuel additive if it “will not cause or contribute to a failure of any emission control device or system.”

They believe the “EPA has unlawfully interpreted the statute to achieve a particular outcome,” but EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said it was based on “sound science.”

Considering the approval was apparently based on study results from a mere 14 vehicles, it sounds like the industry groups might have a solid point here. Especially when you realize that a major motivation for E15 approval is from the fact that blenders couldn’t sell enough E10 to meet government mandates. As the video above (from June of this year) proves, the political tail has wagged the scientific dog on ethanol ever since the farm lobby realized that ethanol could be the next corn syrup. With any luck, this lawsuit could just be the point at which science re-asserts itself.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Fred schumacher Fred schumacher on Nov 10, 2010

    Will everybody please stop eating beef, and pork, and chicken. By far the greatest use of corn is as animal feed. Even the byproducts of ethanol production are fed to animals. And while you're at it, please tell people in the developing world to stop eating those animals too, since our corn exports are encouraging their addiction also. It's all that meat eating that is destroying our soil. Then, when you've all become vegetarians, we can talk about ethanol.

    • See 2 previous
    • Jacob Jacob on Nov 10, 2010

      I eat lots of fish but I almost never eat red meat or chicken/turkey now, except for the Thanksgiving type dinners. I still prefer my girlfriends to be corn-fed though.

  • ChuckR ChuckR on Nov 10, 2010

    Instapundit has a timely link to a Financial Times article at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/249211fc-ec1d-11df-9e11-00144feab49a.html#axzz14tbLw83n which requires free registration. Jist is that the US is warning on corn crop shortfalls and record soybean exports to China. The Russians didn't do so well this year, either. We've lived in benign times for a few decades and can't count on that good fortune continuing indefinitely. That's without considering various blights and rusts and insect infestations. Every now and then, you get a Black Swan event. The ongoing devaluation of the dollar masks the true effect on US food prices, but people are noticing.

  • Red60r Red60r on Nov 10, 2010

    It sorta hurts to agree with any industry lobbies of any kind, but they are on the right side by chance in this one. E10 destroyed some of the fuel plumbing in my Volvo 850, making it reek like a distillery when parked in the summer. My snow blower and lawn mower won't start any more because of ethanol poisoning. Corn is for eating; alcohol is for amusement.

  • Ponchoman49 Ponchoman49 on Nov 10, 2010

    Great so now after screwing up all my small engines devices, lowering the fuel mileage on my 2008 Impala, increasing the prices of everything made with corn and they are now after my older cars too by conveniently making them not run well right! The govt would love nothing more than to see the older cars wiped off the face of the earth because they may be contributing to .000000001% of the imaginary pollution in the world and causing ficticious Global Warming! When is this lunacy tree hugging green bullshitt going to stop?

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