Sen. Harkin Proposes to Ease EPA GHG Rules for Corn Ethanol

Date: August 12, 2009

Source: News Room

Senate agriculture committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) is considering altering the greenhouse gas (GHG) provisions in EPA's renewable fuel standard (RFS) to allow corn ethanol to qualify as an advanced biofuel amid resistance in Congress. One possible caveat would be a requirement that it must reduce GHG emissions through its production techniques or by burning biomass or corn stover to run the refinery. The push by the ethanol and biodiesel industry for congressional action to promote conventional biofuels is intensifying as EPA is now crafting rules to implement the RFS. The 2007 energy law set a new RFS mandate that requires refiners to blend 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels into the nation's fuel supply by 2022. Corn ethanol is capped at 15 billion gallons per year, and the rest of the standard is to be met by categories of cellulosic, biomass-based and advanced biofuels.

Under the mandate's GHG provisions, EPA is required to determine which fuels qualify for credit to meet the volumetric standards based on a lifecycle assessment of their GHG emissions as compared to conventional petroleum. Corn ethanol, for example, is required to be 20 percent better than petroleum.

The lifecycle assessment requires consideration of international land use impacts, a calculation that puts biofuels made from food crops like corn and soy above the performance standard, but makes advanced biofuels look very attractive. Theories behind international land use say that fuels derived from corn and soy impact global grain markets, and encourage land clearing in places like the Amazon rainforest.

While Congress created the first-time GHG standard, lawmakers also "grandfathered" coal-fired ethanol refineries that began construction before Dec. 19, 2007, as well as biomass- and natural gas-fired plants that began construction in 2008 or 2009.

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