EPA ruling stalled by ethanol debate
Questions about the impact ethanol has on the environment are keeping the EPA from making a ruling about how much biofuel the U.S. should produce. Sarah Gardner reports.
An ethanol pump (Alain Julien/AFP/Getty Images)
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Scott Jagow: Until the economy crashed, climate change was the topic du jour. And ethanol was the lightning rod. The EPA was supposed to have rules by today on how much biofuel the US should produce. But there isn't even a draft proposal. Sarah Gardener at our Sustainability Desk explains what happened.
Sarah Gardner: Corn ethanol's already taken heat for higher food prices. Now scientists are questioning whether it actually produces more greenhouse gas emissions than regular gasoline. That's if you take into account indirect impacts, like rainforests being converted to cropland. Jonathan Lewis at the Clean Air Task Force says that's because cutting down rainforests releases carbon dioxide.
Jonathan Lewis: That initial upfront release of soil and plant carbon swamps whatever benefits we get over the long term from using biofuels.
The EPA's initial calculations of biofuel's climate impacts alarmed industry. Biofuel producers have lobbied the administration hard to omit those calculations, calling the science "immature." The new rules are currently stuck in the White House Office of Management and Budget, and will likely end up yet another headache for the Obama administration.
I'm Sarah Gardner for Marketplace.
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From CA, 12/20/2008
Hello? Did anyone notice that the rainforests have been cut down since decades ago? Do you really think they will stop being cut down if biofuels production is stopped? Please use some logic. Also, corn prices are WAY down along with oil prices, but food prices have stayed up. Seems that corn prices and food prices are not at all linked any more, despite what the Grocery Manufacturers have been proclaiming, while reaping record profits. Shame on them.
12/19/2008
The same thought needs to be put towards electric vehicles. Think of the economic impact of a sudden surge of vehicles onto the power grid. Further, circuit board and battery manufacturing is some of the most environmentally hazardous chemical procedures out there.
What we need is true fuel diversity and simple consumption reduction. Four day business weeks, more local business (particularly goods production) on all levels (busting down large megacorps will help greatly) and dumping "daylight savings" (which is more hurtful than helpful) are needed to conserve energy and set us on a more conservative path.
Further, a decline in overall production is needed. Our greed for things we don't need is causing far more harm than all the cars in the world, two fold over. In fact, the production of one new fuel efficient car does far more harm to the environment than reusing an old pickup that gets 15mpg.
Of course jobs are in the balance as well, but when people grasp that "desire" and "need" are actually two different things, then we will truly be on the road to economic conservancy.
From Bismarck, ND, 12/19/2008
It is not just conversion of rain forests that contribute to indirect impacts of ethanol production. Plowing native and restored grassland to plant corn also releases carbon into the atmosphere. This is happening at alarming rates in North and South Dakota. When corn prices soared, farmers started plowing native grass (land that had never been planted to crops) and converting restored grasslands in that were in conservation programs to grow corn.
From IL, 12/19/2008
A SIMPLE RULE OF THUMB, ANY INDUSTRY THAT THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO PROP UP IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE A COMPLETE FAILURE.
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