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Oct. 23, 2014 Platts reports: A federal appeals court on Tuesday tossed out a lawsuit filed by several industry trade groups seeking to repeal US Environmental Protection Agency rules requiring labels for pumps selling gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the plaintiffs, including the American Petroleum Institute and the Engine Products Group, did not have legal standing to challenge the rules. "Petitioners fail to establish Article III standing because they cannot show that their members have suffered or are threatened with suffering an injury in fact that is traceable to the regulation and redressable by a favorable decision," the judges wrote in their opinion. The plaintiffs had sought in their petition to overturn an EPA rule that requires labels on gas pumps warning customers about which vehicles could not use E15. According the petition, the EPA had not done enough research to prove that the labels would adequately prevent customers from putting E15 in vehicles that couldn't handle the fuel. But the judges concluded that the plaintiffs could not prove they had or would suffer any harm due to the rule. The opinion also stated any of the members of the plaintiffs groups were planning on selling E15 gasoline. The American Petroleum Institute in a statement that even though the court did not rule on the merits of its petition, it stood firm in its belief that E15 could harm consumers' vehicles. "It is consumers that ultimately are harmed if a pump label inadequately warns them of the dangers of using E15," the statement said. "EPA approved E15 before vehicle testing was complete, and we now know that the fuel may cause significant mechanical problems in millions of cars on the road today." The plaintiffs also included the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the Association of Global Automakers, the National Marine Manufacturers Association and the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. The ruling was another setback for ethanol foes. In 2012, the same court dismissed a lawsuit brought by some of the same plaintiffs seeking to stop the EPA's approval of E15, saying the fuel could leave their members open to liability should customers damage their cars by using E15 gasoline. The court also dismissed that lawsuit due to lack of standing. Tweet |
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