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Rival Oil Firms Team Up to Fight Biden’s EVs Push!
- In a legal battle with Valero, renewable fuel companies have joined the fray.
- The EPA regulates carbon dioxide emissions from automobile tailpipes.
The petroleum industry and alternative fuel manufacturers, long adversaries, put their differences aside to contest a Biden administration rule limiting automotive greenhouse-gas emissions.
Renewable fuel producers and at least one oil refiner have joined forces to seek a federal appeals court in Washington to reconsider EPA requirements that promise to increase electric car sales but potentially shrink the market for liquid fuels, whether made from petroleum or plants.
The EPA regulation, according to soybean organizations and Diamond Alternative Energy LLC, a Valero Energy Corp. affiliate, favors electric vehicles over renewable fuels and other technologies for decreasing emissions.
“EPA attempts to unilaterally modify the transportation mix in the United States through the final rule, without legislative permission and without appropriately evaluating the huge greenhouse gas reduction advantages given by renewable fuels,” they write in a filing.
The business organizations filed their objections on Monday, the 60-day deadline for lawsuits based on the Clean Air Act regulation.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative advocacy group, and the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, a group of oil producers led by billionaire Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources Inc., filed a second petition for review.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, also chimed in, saying he’s leading a group of 14 states contesting the regulation. He claimed in his statement that the restrictions, if left unchanged, will stress the Texas power system and lower the demand for gasoline by billions of gallons, “effectively destroying Texas’ thriving energy industry.”
The EPA regulation limits carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles and light trucks tailpipes, a mandate that was reduced by outgoing President Donald Trump.
“EPA is attempting to shift the motor vehicle market from gas-powered vehicles to electric vehicles by increasing the cost of gas-powered automobiles,” CEI attorney Devin Watkins said in a statement, alleging that the regulation goes beyond the agency’s jurisdiction.
In the 2026 model year, the regulation demands fleet-wide fuel efficiency values of 55 MPG, requiring manufacturers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 22.6 percent.
