COURT DUMPS EPA RULE

An appeals court overturned an Environmental Protection Agency regulation requiring that 30 percent of cleaner-burning gas be made up with ethanol, a corn-based oxygen additive that allows fuel to burn with less pollution. Ethanol is considered a more environmentally friendly product than alternative oxygenates butTIME science writer Eugene Lindensays, "This is not an anti-environmental ruling. It only challenges the EPA's right to dictate how those goals are achieved." Farmers had estimated that the required level of ethanol use would bring them up to $1.5 billion, but Linden suggests that there are other ways the government can encourage its use, including taxation.