In what is starting to become routine in California, a court has again decided the fate, at least temporarily, of another AB 32 program. Earlier this week, the Ninth Circuit lifted an injunction which prevented the California Air Resources Board (Board or CARB) from enforcing the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The Court temporarily lifted the injunction issued late last year. The LCFS is in its second year of implementation, on its way to a 2020 goal of achieving a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s fuel supply.

A three-judge panel agreed with CARB’s arguments to stay a California federal court’s Dec. 29, 2012 decision preventing the Board from enforcing the provisions of the regulation while the merits of the actual case against it worked its way through the appeal process. This new decision allows for full enforcement of the LCFS standards.