TOPEKA – (March 12, 2012) – Kansas has asked a federal appeals court in California to keep that state’s motor fuel market open for Kansas-produced ethanol while it considers underlying legal issues on appeal, Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced today.

Schmidt today filed a brief with the San Francisco-based 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking the Court to keep the California market open to Kansas ethanol while it considers an appeal about a California law that discriminates against ethanol produced with Midwestern grain. Schmidt joined the attorneys general of Nebraska, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Michigan in the filing.

Earlier this year, the Midwestern states joined in support of a lawsuit filed in federal district court in California arguing against the discriminatory California law. The federal district court sided with Kansas and ruled that the California law is unconstitutional. California has appealed that ruling to the 9^th Circuit and has asked the appeals court to block the lower court’s order while the appeal is pending. In today’s filing, Kansas has asked the Court to allow the sale of Midwestern ethanol into the California market while the appeal is pending.

“Granting a stay of the district court’s preliminary injunction and allowing the California Air Resources Board’s unconstitutional low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) to take effect would significantly impair the markets for [Midwestern] States’ corn and ethanol and, by extension, the economies of [Midwestern] States,” the six states wrote in their filing.