Government Regulation -- 2019



American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers v. O'Keeffe   (U.S. Supreme Court)

Restriction on the free trade of energy

The NAM filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court to oppose Oregon’s economic discrimination against transportation fuels manufactured outside of Oregon, and to defend the free trade of fuels and other manufactured products within the United States. The case involves Oregon’s “Clean Fuel Program,” which ascribes a “carbon intensity” score to all fuels and requires higher-scoring fuels to pay a financial penalty to sell those fuels in Oregon. Oregon officials responsible for the program acknowledged that one purpose of the program was to discriminate against fuels manufactured outside of Oregon. A federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the program. An association representing the oil refining industry petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. The NAM’s amicus brief in support of certiorari argues that the Oregon law improperly seeks to regulate energy production in other states, and that the lower courts failed to properly scrutinize the program and find that it violates the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against a state’s economic discrimination against products made out-of-state. Our brief also highlights the problematic consequences for manufacturers if states may enact a patchwork of similar economic restrictions on the free trade of transportation fuels and other manufactured products. On May 13, 2019, the Court denied certiorari.


Related Documents:
NAM brief  (February 8, 2019)