ON APRIL 28 a federal appeals court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency may not mandate the sale of gasoline mixed with ethanol. Although the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990 empower the EPA to set standards for reformulated gasoline, the EPA overstepped its authority, the court said, by requiring that 30 per cent of such fuel include ethanol.
The ethanol mandate illustrates how environmentalism has become a vehicle for dishing out pork while harming consumers, taxpayers—and the environment. Although the mandate seems dead for now, it could be revived by Congress, where Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole is a big supporter. The issue will be a test of whether the Republicans are serious about basing environmental policy on sound science.
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