The states of Kansas and Nebraska presented oral arguments Thursday before a D.C. Circuit panel in their fight against the Environmental Protection Agency’s new vehicle emissions model discouraging the use of ethanol in gasoline. The two states contend the model is based on the inaccurate theory that the corn-based fuel increases pollution.
It was in 2014 when Kansas and Nebraska, states with large corn-growing operations, filed suit after the EPA released and published the MOVES2014 Motor Vehicle Emissions Model. The new EPA rule, like other controversial rules being fought by some states, says that states must create State Implementation Plans or SIPS and beginning in October 2016 must demonstrate their transportation projects confirm to their SIPS. But Kansas and Nebraska, joined by two environmental groups, petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to strike down the model on procedural and substantive grounds.
They contend the model drawn up by the EPA was procedurally flawed and violated the Administrative Procedures Act because the EPA implemented the model without providing the public notice or a chance for interested parties to comment. Their suit also claims the model was unsound because it was based in part on a significantly flawed fuel effects study.
