Court Rejects Lawsuit Claiming DOD Violation Of Congressional Ban on Fuel Procurement

摘要

An environmental group failed to show that it had standing or that its membership faced likely climate change-related injury that could be tied directly to the Defense Department's procurement of fuel from Canadian oil sands, a federal district court has ruled (Sierra Club v. U.S. Defense Energy Support Center, E.D. Va., No. 01:ll-cv-41, 7/29/11). The Sierra Club argued in the challenge that DOD's continued procurement is in violation of the congressional ban on procurement of carbon-intensive, alternative fuels under a 2007 energy law and that purchasing the fuel posed a threat to its members by exacerbating the effects of global climate change. The prohibition, outlined in Section 526 of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (Pub. L. No. 110-140), bars federal agencies from procuring synthetic and alternative fuels which have a larger "life-cycle" carbon footprint than conventional fuel.