Oil trade body files motion to intervene in biofuels lawsuit

The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) group said it has filed a motion to intervene to support the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a challenge against the US biofuels standard from the country's biofuel and agricultural groups.

AFPM, which represents oil companies, stands by EPA's authority to reduce biofuels requirements from volumes established by Congress in 2007, the group said in a statement on its website.

The biofuel requirements established by the EPA last November has drawn criticism from the biofuels industry. Biofuels groups have said regulators are caving to "big oil" and have misused their authority to lower volumes. They said the programme was good for the environment and created jobs.

The move by the AFPM comes after a group of seven trade associations filed a petition for a US court, last week, to review the US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2014, 2015, and 2016, challenging the EPA's authority to cut the volumes.

In a statement, AFPM's president, Chet Thompson said: "AFPM filed a motion to intervene to support EPA's interpretation and use of its legal waiver authority to reduce the mandated amounts of renewable fuels to be blended into the nation's fuel supply."

He added: "EPA's decision to lower volume requirements was the only justifiable option given market realities and the failure to do so would have been arbitrary and capricious.

"This lawsuit is another effort by the ethanol industry to force increased amounts of ethanol produced by the petitioners' members on consumers through an unpopular government mandate, and ignores not only the E10 blend wall but also strong consumer rejection of higher-ethanol fuels."