Third Court Ruling Against Obama Administration In One Week

By Susan Duclos

The other two have their own posts, here,  here and a followup piece here.

Short recap: First link is where a federal appeals court panel of three ruled that Obama’s recess appointments made when the Senate was not in recess last year, were unconstitutional and invalid.

The second was where a federal judge ruled against the Obama administration’s arguments and said that 10 ICE agents
and officers have standing to challenge in Federal court the so-called
Morton Memo on prosecutorial discretion and the DREAM directive on
deferred action.

Now, via Bloomberg, we see another ruling against Obama’s “EPA Cellulosic Biofuel Regulation Rejected by Court.”

An Environmental Protection Agency
rule mandating refiners generate or purchase advanced biofuels
was overturned by a federal appeals court in Washington, after
producers failed to make any commercial supplies last year.

The American Petroleum Institute, an oil and gas trade
association, last year asked the court to overturn the EPA
standard setting mandates in 2012 for production and sale of the
cellulosic fuels, which can be made from materials including
wood chips, switchgrass or agricultural waste.

The three-judge panel today rejected that target and sent
it back to the EPA to come up with a new mandate. While the EPA
set a standard for refiners of 8.65 million gallons of
cellulosic ethanol in 2012, the actual U.S. production was
20,000 gallons — and those were exported to Brazil.

“Apart from their role as captive consumers, the refiners
are in no position to ensure, or even contribute to, growth in
the cellulosic biofuel industry,” the court said in a 14-page
ruling. According to the court, the EPA rule tells producers,
“Do a good job, cellulosic fuel producers. If you fail, we’ll
fine your customers.”

A very bad week for the Obama administration in Federal Courts around the country.