Harkin applauds EPA ethanol rule – with a caveat

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on Wednesday cheered new EPA ethanol rules and a federal interagency working group’s new strategy to speed up production of next-wave biofuels.

“I am very pleased that at long last the Administration has issued this rule. This keeps the nation on its trajectory of strongly expanding production and use of biofuels, including biodiesel, and gives the biofuel industry the assurance that the nation does support their efforts,” said Harkin, the former chairman of the Agriculture Committee, in a statement.

But he echoed ethanol industry trade groups in attacking EPA for considering “indirect” land use changes when calculating ethanol’s carbon footprint – even though EPA largely found that ethanol meets emissions standards in a 2007 law.

“EPA has concluded that the existing biofuels do meet the lifecycle greenhouse gas emission limits imposed as a part of the RFS2 [Renewable Fuels Standard – 2] in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.  This clarity is very important given the uncertainty over whether indirect land use change emissions calculations that had been included in the proposed rule issued last spring might make some biofuels ineligible for inclusion under the mandate,” Harkin said.

“Despite this, I am disappointed that the Environmental Protection Agency continues to use questionable data and methods for calculating ‘indirect land use changes’ at all.  These methods are not adequately developed, and thus should not be used in ways making it harder for ethanol and biodiesel to meet requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.  If we continue to do this, we’ll exclude some good biofuels and stifle the investment that is so essential to our national renewable fuels strategy,” he added.