JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SECURES CASE DISMISSAL WHERE GROUPS SOUGHT TO FORCE EPA TO INITIATE RULEMAKING TO BAN A CHEMICAL USED TO CREATE HIGH-OCTANE GAS

WASHINGTON, July 1 -- The U.S. Department of Justice's Environment & Natural Resources Division issued the following news release:

In an order issued last week, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted the Justice Department's motion - on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - to dismiss a suit filed by several groups to compel the EPA to initiate a rulemaking to ban the use of hydrogen fluoride in oil refining. The plaintiffs filed their suit after EPA denied an administrative petition seeking the same ban.

Hydrogen fluoride is a chemical used in a wide variety of manufacturing operations. At oil refineries, it is used to produce high-octane gasoline necessary for the performance of high-power...