American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers v. O’Keeffe

The U.S. Supreme Court denied, without comment, a petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the Oregon Clean Fuel Program. The certiorari petition was filed by American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, American Trucking Associations, Inc., and Consumer Energy Alliance, who argued that the Program constituted impermissible extraterritorial regulation and discriminated against interstate commerce.

American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, American Trucking Associations, Inc., and Consumer Energy Alliance filed a petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of the Ninth Circuit’s opinion upholding the Oregon Clean Fuel Program. In particular, they sought review on the questions of whether the Program’s regulation of fuels based on a “life-cycle” analysis constituted impermissible extraterritorial regulation. In addition, they sought review on whether the Program—which they contended was “designed to require and has the effect of requiring out-of-state competitors to subsidize in-state producers”—violated the Commerce Clause. The petitioners argued that the Ninth Circuit’s opinion implicated a circuit split on the extraterritorial regulation issue and that the Ninth Circuit’s conclusion that the program did not discriminate against interstate commerce was at odds with Supreme Court precedent and the decisions of other circuit courts of appeals.