San Francisco, California -- A federal appeals court hearing a case seeking to stop California's first in the nation mandate requiring fuel producers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is focusing on whether the law discriminates against out of state businesses.
A three-justice panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday heard oral arguments about the constitutionality of California's "Low Carbon Fuel Standard," a piece of the state's landmark global warming law, AB 32.
The justices' questions focused on the law's reliance on a "carbon intensity score," which measures pollution from a fuel's entire life cycle, not just when it is burned in a vehicle.
Out of state refiners and ethanol companies say this discriminates against their products because transportation to California raises the score.
The state says the law does not discriminate and will spur clean-fuels innovation.
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