EPA Denies Texas Waiver Request to Relax RFS Mandate

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson announced today that the agency will deny the request of Texas Governor Rick Perry for a waiver that would reduce government ethanol production requirements.

Gov. Perry submitted a request on April 25 for a waiver that would reduce the federally mandated volume of ethanol by half, from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 4.5 billion gallons. The request argued that because the mandate drives up corn prices, it causes economic hardship to livestock producers by elevating animal feed costs and, according to the request letter, “driving up global food prices.”

But Johnson said during a 1 pm conference call today that “the RFS mandate is not causing severe economic harm,” nor is it damaging the environment, and therefore does not meet the statutory threshold that would warrant a waiver.

Rather, the administrator said, the Renewable Fuels Standard is strengthening America’s energy security and farming communities. In a press release statement, he called it “important tool in our ongoing efforts to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions and lessen our dependence on foreign oil.”

Since opening the request to public comment, the EPA did indicate that their modeling showed a relaxation of the mandate would reduce corn prices by between 7 and 30 cents per bushel.

Johnson made it clear on the conference call that the agency considered economic hardship as the primary criteria for the decision, as that was the focus of the Texas request. But he also mentioned the ongoing rulemaking process that will update the RFS guidelines in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. According to the legislation, the new rules must account for lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions ethanol and other renewable fuels.

That process is supposed to be completed in the fall, but may take until next year. One of the complexities involves the emissions impacts of land use change, for instance when domestic farmers move previously uncultivated land into production for biofuel feedstocks, releasing the carbon stored in the soil; or when shifts in production of one feedstock in the United States create incentives for farmers elsewhere in the global market to move carbon-storing land into production. Because the RFS requires that all renewable fuels meet or beat GHG lifecycle reductions of at least 50 percent compared to a fossil fuel baseline, emissions from land use change are significant and can wipe out the carbon savings from burning ethanol instead of gasoline, as two major studies released in February demonstrated.

A solution to the land use problem is to grow feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol on marginal land that does not compete with food. As we’ve written about previously on Science Progress, sustainably produced biofuels have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, diversify sources of transportation energy, and support a dynamic agricultural economy—both in the United States and abroad.

RFS production mandates in the EISA (from the Renewable Fuels Association):

Tags: biofuels

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