Public Comments Due on Pending EPA Renewable Fuel Regulations

On August 7, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released peer reviews of its controversial life-cycle carbon analysis of biofuels. The peer reviews are part of the EPA’s ongoing public review of its draft regulations to implement the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-140). The RFS requires:

1) the use of 11.1 billion gallons of biofuel in 2009, increasing to 36 billion gallons in 2022;

2) shifting away from corn starch-based ethanol (to be capped at 15 billion gallons annual production) to advanced and cellulosic biofuels; and

3) new biofuel producers to reduce significantly the total life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of biofuels compared to petroleum-based fuels.

In developing the rules, EPA was required to estimate the GHG emissions associated with land use changes around the world that may result indirectly from using crops such as corn or soy beans to produce biofuels. How much new land and what kind of land (pasture, grassland, or forest) in which countries would likely be converted to agricultural production due to the diversion of U.S. crop land to biofuel production, and how much GHG would be released to the atmosphere as a result of that land conversion? Recognizing the complexity of the issues, the EPA sought expert peer review of its models, methods and findings in four main areas:

1) “satellite imagery and emissions factor analysis”;

2) “methods and approaches to account for life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels over time”;

3) “international greenhouse gas emissions and factors”; and

4) “life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions production due to increased biofuel production model linkage”

The peer reviews are posted here (scroll down to "peer review"), and comments may be submitted here. The EPA will be accepting comments from the public on both the draft regulation and the peer reviews until September 25, 2009.

To submit comments to EPA on the overall draft regulation, click here .