Oil, trucking industries sue California over first-in-the nation low-carbon fuel mandate

Oil, trucking industries sue Calif. over fuel rule

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The petroleum and trucking industries are asking a federal court to block California’s first-in-the-nation mandate for cleaner, low-carbon fuels.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fresno by the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association and the American Trucking Associations.

It is the third lawsuit filed in the past two months challenging the regulations, which were adopted by the California Air Resources Board last April.

The groups say regulators violated the federal Commerce Clause by enacting rules that interfere with interstate commerce and favor biofuels produced in California.

Beginning next year, the standard requires petroleum refiners, companies that blend fuel and distributors to gradually increase the cleanliness of the fuel they sell in California.