EPA's Ethanol Timetable Applauded, but Agency's Biodiesel Effort Bashed
By Scott Doggett December 1, 2009
By Danny King, Contributor
The federal government announced today that it will delay by about six months a decision on whether to boost the allowable amount of ethanol in gasoline by 50 percent.
The announcement was applauded by automobile trade groups and a biofuels trade group, which viewed the delay as an indication that the increased allowance will likely be allowed.
Another biodiesel group, however, accused the government of dragging its feet on updating regulations that may boost demand for biomass-based biodiesel.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which under Clean Air Act rules had until today to respond to a request by the biofuels group Growth Energy to boost the allowable limit of ethanol in gasoline to 15 percent from 10 percent, said it will make a decision in mid-2010.
However, the EPA hinted at a possible approval.
"While not all tests have been completed, the results of two tests indicate that engines in newer cars likely can handle an ethanol blend higher than the current 10-percent limit," the EPA said in a statement. "The agency will decide whether to raise the blending limit when more testing data is available."
Gen. Wesley Clark, co-chairman of Growth Energy, said in a separate statement that the announcement is "a strong signal that we are preparing to move to E15, a measure that will create 136,000 new U.S. jobs, cut greenhouse-gas emissions and lessen America's dependence on imported oil."
Both the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers applauded the EPA's decision to table its verdict in order to perform further testing on the effects on cars of so-called mid-level blends.
Auto Alliance President Dave McCurdy said he was looking for further proof that prolonged use of fuel with higher ethanol levels won't damage engines and cause "a disaster for the driving public," while AIAM President Michael Stanton wanted similar proof that E-15 won't create "durability or emission control problems with the 240 million gas powered motor vehicles."
In addition to concerns from carmakers about the effect of ethanol on fuel lines and other engine components, many environmentalists, academic researchers and economists have been critical of the push for broader ethanol use - notably through flex-fuel vehicles that can process fuel that is 85 percent ethanol.
They say the perceived demand for ethanol contributed to a spike in corn prices that has exacerbated worldwide shortages of many grain-based foods. The price of corn - the major ethanol feedstock in the U.S. - quadrupled between mid-2005 and mid-2008.
Supporters of increased ethanol use such as Growth Energy, however, say ethanol production lessens dependence on foreign-produced oil while contributing to the U.S. economy by creating or sustaining farming jobs.
Meanwhile, one biodiesel trade group was critical of the government, saying that the EPA now appeared unlikely to meet a separate year-end deadline to set regulations relating to biomass-based diesel requirements.
Such regulations are part of the Renewable Fuels Standard, a broader federal government program designed to quadruple the amount of renewable fuel required to be blended into gasoline over the next 13 years.
"The biodiesel industry in the United States, which Congress sought to promote, has faced substantial economic difficulty, and production will be much lower in 2009 than it was in either 2007 or 2008, largely due to the delay in implementing the RFS Biomass-based Diesel mandate," wrote Manning Feraci, vice president of federal affairs at the National Biodiesel Board, in a letter to the EPA last week.
Feraci said further delay of the biomass-based diesel requirement will continue to bring severe economic harm to the U.S. biodiesel industry.
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