Supreme Court rules Ethanol Plants Free from Stricter Controls

The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled that plants producing fuel-grade ethanol are not subject to stricter controls under the Clean Air Act. The Court found that it is reasonable for environmental regulators to exclude them from regulations governing chemical processing plants.

The Clean Air Act is federal law that regulates air emissions from stationary and mobile sources. The law authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards to protect public health and public welfare and to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants.

Among these regulations, stationary facilities emitting 100 tons per year of more of any air pollutant must demonstrate their emissions will not cause air pollution in excess of set standards.

The National Resources Defense Council argued before the Court that permits issued to Putnam County Ethanol LLC and POET Biorefining-North Manchester should have classified their facilities as chemical processing plants, which would have triggered review under the Clean Air Act.

            The suit was countered by a law passed by the Indiana General Assembly mirroring an EPA ruling that excluded ethanol facilities from the definition of stationary facilities under the Clean Air Act.  

            The Indiana Supreme Court ruled that since Indiana’s plan to implement the Clear Air Act does not address how to classify fuel ethanol plants, The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is lawfully allowed to interpret how to define ethanol plants.

            “The purpose of the Clean Air Act is to create a framework within which states may regulate and operate,” Justice Steven David wrote in the opinion. “To do so successfully, states and their implementing agencies must be afforded the flexibility to responsively adapt to changing technologies, market fluctuations, environmental conditions, and shifts in policy.”