Ethanol Blog

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- A federal court vacated a 2024 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule the Texas Corn Producers, Texas Sorghum Producers and the National Sorghum producers contend unfairly penalized ethanol in federal fuel-economy calculations.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with the ag groups this week, ruling against EPA's use of an "Ra factor" when certifying fuel economy in newer vehicles. The Biden administration implemented the factor for E10 gasoline in 2024, which replaced the use of E0 in testing with E10. The court found the value set for E10 was "arbitrarily low" and penalized ethanol.

The nature of test fuels is important because it affects measured fuel-economy values, essentially determining whether automakers meet fuel-economy standards.

The ag groups argued the EPA's use of a 0.81 factor undervalued ethanol's contribution to fuel economy. The groups contend that a factor closer to 1 was more accurate.

A low Ra factor for ethanol essentially pushed automakers to adopt more electric-vehicle and higher-efficiency engine technologies, rather than using ethanol to comply with the standards.

"EPA's Ra Rule is unreasonable and unreasonably explained," the Fifth Circuit said in its ruling. "The agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act by ignoring comments that flagged flaws in EPA's determination of the Ra factor. We therefore grant the petition for review and vacate the challenged portion of the Ra rule."

The court also took the agency to task for not considering public and industry input in conducting a rulemaking.

"EPA offered zero response to extensive comments about the test program's insufficient sample size," the Fifth Circuit said. "That is fatal to the rule because those comments, 'if true and adopted,' would require a change to the rule."

The court criticized EPA's "half-hearted defense" of the rule as "lipstick on a pig," concluding the agency "identifies no evidence to support (its) 'trust-us-we're-the-experts' response."

Tim Lust, CEO of the National Sorghum Producers, said in a statement that the court's decision was a "meaningful win" for farmers.

"The court's ruling restores fairness and transparency to how ethanol is treated in fuel economy rules and holds the government accountable to sound science," he said.

David Gibson, executive director of the Texas Corn Producers, said ethanol should be considered by the EPA as a solution to clean air.

"This ruling ensures ethanol isn't penalized by flawed methodology and it gives the current EPA administration a fresh opportunity to get this right," Gibson said.

Wayne Cleveland, executive director of Texas Sorghum Producers, said the court "affirmed what growers have long said, that the science matters and so does the way agencies engage with it."

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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