In his weekly conference call with agriculture reporters today, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) said a visit to Iowa by a couple of senior officials will be useful because of the “tremendable and scary impact” that proposed biofuel regulations could have “on agriculture and family farmers.” The two EPA officials, Gina McCarthy and Margo Oge, will be in the state Sept. 3. They’ll get a briefing on an “information session” on corn and soybean production and low-carbon fuel standards before visiting a farm and the Renewable Energy Group’s biodiesel plant at Newton. (Recall, EPA’s Margo Oge was chastised for not having visited a farm.)
As for that “tremendable” issue – the EPA’s proposed greenhouse-gas ratings for soybean-based biodiesel would make it difficult for REG and other producers to qualify their product toward meeting the new biodiesel usage mandates. The House-passed climate bill would take care of the biodiesel industry by exempting existing plants from the regulation.
Filed under: Climate Change, Corn, Enviroment, Ethanol, GHG, ILUC, RFS, Sugarcane, sugar | Tagged: Biofuels, Corn, EPA, Ethanol, Grassley, ILUC, Iowa, Land Use Changes, Renewable Fuels, RFA
