February 2, 2010
The oil and trucking industries went to court today to challenge California's low-carbon fuel standard, a massive set of regulations aimed at combating global warming.
In a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Fresno, the standard was attacked as unconstitutional and costly by the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, the American Trucking Associations and two other groups.
The standard will mean "higher fuel costs for consumers, dramatic reductions in the availability of those fuels, and a rapid expansion of the state's already unacceptable level of dependence on foreign, unstable regimes for its energy," said Michael Whatley of the Consumer Energy Alliance, one of the groups filing suit. The group said the standard will cost Californians billions while doing little to actually fight climate change.
Although it hasn't gotten as much attention as the state's landmark global warming law, AB 32, the standard is a key element in the state's climate change initiative. It requires that the "carbon intensity" of fuels be reduced by 10 percent by 2020.
"We believe that their claims have no merit," Stanley Young, spokesman for the California Air Resources Board, said of the lawsuit. "This is a regulation designed to provide California consumers with cleaner, low-carbon vehicle fuels and we will vigorously defend it in court."
The standard was adopted last spring by the air board but didn't officially take effect until last month, when it was approved by the state Office of Administrative Law.
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