Iowa and Missouri are suing to block an edict by New York requiring their and other ethanol and biodiesel producers to report how much of the renewable fuel might be sold in the state.
The Iowa and Missouri attorneys general call the reporting requirements, part of New York’s efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, an “unconstitutional attempt to regulate businesses, consumers and individuals beyond its borders.”
“New York bureaucrats cannot tell Iowa farmers and ethanol and biofuel producers how to do their job or what regulations they need to follow. It’s as simple as that,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement Thursday, May 14.
Iowa is the nation’s largest producer of ethanol and biodiesel. Plants in the state use about half of Iowa’s annual corn crop to make ethanol and oil from about 24% of the state’s yearly soybean harvest to make biodiesel.
“By forcing a radical green agenda through unrealistic reporting requirements on any biofuel that may unknowingly end up in New York, these unelected bureaucrats are putting excessive financial requirements on producers. That means higher costs of fuel for Iowans and all Americans,” Bird said.
The Center for Individual Rights, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest law firm, filed the lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on behalf of Bird and Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway. Also joining as a plaintiff is the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, an Ankeny-based group whose board members include Terry Branstad, former Iowa governor and U.S. ambassador to China.
The groups say the New York regulation requires all U.S. ethanol and biodiesel manufacturers and distributors to “register with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and report the amount of liquid fuel that might be used or sold in the Empire State.”
The issue echoes a long legal battle between California, Iowa and other states over how farmers raise pigs. That case twice went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last year declined to consider it.
The dispute centers on a California requirement, approved in a voter initiative, that requires producers selling pork in the state to give sows more space in their pens. Many Iowa farmers house sows in restrictive gestation stalls designed to protect sows from other pigs’ aggression and to keep them from rolling over on their piglets, crushing them.
Iowa, the nation’s largest pork producer, contends the effort by another state to impose requirements on its pork producers is regulatory overreach. In addition to the litigation, Iowa and other farm-state lawmakers are pushing legislation to block the California regulations.
Here’s what to know about the Iowa and Missouri biofuels lawsuit.
Why does New York want renewable fuel data from Iowa, other states?
In 2019, New York enacted a law requiring considerable reductions in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions over the following two decades, according to the lawsuit.
“The law did not specify how those reductions would be achieved. Rather, it directed New York’s environmental agency to issue regulations supplying those details,” the lawsuit says. “Those emissions reduction regulations have not yet been issued.”
But New York did issue greenhouse gas reporting regulations in December. The suit says the state intends to use the data “to create regulations for reducing New York’s greenhouse gas emissions considerably by 2030.”
The first Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program reports are due June 1, 2027.
Complying could cost up to $91,000 annually, per plant
New York estimates the cost to meet the reporting requirement will be between $17,500 and about $91,000 per facility annually. And the rule allows New York officials to “enter and inspect a reporting entity’s property without notice” and impose civil and criminal penalties, the lawsuit says.
The costs could be large in the Midwest. Iowa has 42 ethanol plants, providing about 28% of the nation’s production. The state’s eight biodiesel plants provide 17% of U.S. production. Missouri is the nation’s 13th largest ethanol producer, with six plants, and the second-largest biodiesel producer, with five plants.
What do Iowa, Missouri attorneys general want the court to do?
Iowa and Missouri’s attorneys general ask that New York’s reporting program be halted because it would preempt the federal Clean Air Act, which regulates interstate greenhouse gas emissions, and violates the constitutional restrictions on regulating activities outside a state’s borders, among other issues.
What do New York officials and others say?
The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, named as a defendant in the lawsuit, didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday.
According to the lawsuit, New York officials said requiring reports from plants outside the state is “consistent with the Constitution and necessary to comply” with the law’s “significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions.”
American Free Enerprise Chamber CEO Gentry Collins said in a statement that Iowa and other biofuel producers “already abide by the state regulations where production occurs.”
“Now, the state of New York is seeking to apply additional scrutiny and red tape from extreme environmental inspectors or risk ruinous financial penalties,” Collins said. “It’s a big government power grab at its worst, and we’re proud to stand with our allies in firm opposition to this effort.”
Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa, Missouri sue New York over biofuel rule could raise fuel costs
Reporting by Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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