The Farm lobby senators appear to have decided not go forward with legislation that would have protected the corn ethanol and soy biodiesel industry from EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rules that would include impacts on international land use in evaluating the carbon footprint of U.S.-produced biofuels. According to the Des Moines Register, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) received assurances from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson that the Agency would “carefully quantify and consider” the uncertainties around analyzing biofuels.
Meanwhile, according to E&E (subscription required), Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Tom Carper (D-DE) “prepared a second-degree amendment that could surface if the Harkin plan is offered. Their plan instead says EPA rules must consider the ‘an appropriate characterization of ranges … of the uncertainty in calculating the international indirect land use change emissions in the implementation of the renewable fuel program.’”
Filed under: Biofuels, Climate Change, Corn, Ethanol, GHG, ILUC, RFS | Tagged: Bingaman, biodiesel, Carper, corn lobby, EPA, Ethanol, Grassley, Harkin, ILUC, Thune
[...] the expanded Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS-2) came to a close Friday. Separately, as noted in this blog, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson promised Congress that the Agency would take into account the [...]