House Committee Narrowly Rejects Limiting EPA’s Biofuels Rulemaking

On June 18, the House Appropriations Committee chose by a single vote not to intervene in an EPA regulatory process which is assessing the effects of indirect land use change when calculating the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels. By a margin of 29-30, the committee rejected an amendment from Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) that would have barred funding for any regulation that included these emissions, which can add significantly to the calculated carbon footprint of corn ethanol and a number of other biofuels. The amendment was targeted primarily at the development of EPA rules determining the eligibility of a number of biofuels to be included under the Renewable Fuels Standard of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-140). In the Act, Congress required the EPA to include carbon emissions due to indirect land use change as part of its lifecycle assessment of various biofuels. This could cause a number of biofuels to not meet the minimum carbon reduction standards set by Congress.

"There is a huge negative effect here," argued Emerson ( according to Planet Ark ), who worried that the proposed EPA rule "could stop U.S. ethanol production in its tracks." According to a Platts news story , Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA) urged committee members to oppose the amendment, saying that members of the Energy and Commerce Committee had assured him that the matter would be addressed on the House floor during negotiations for the Waxman-Markey climate change bill. The draft 2010 Interior and Environment spending bill, to which Emerson had attempted to attach the amendment, was approved by the committee later in the day.