Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials are ignoring a federal law requiring them to report to Congress and the public whether biofuels are helping or harming the environment, a government watchdog reported Thursday.
The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program “is a national policy that requires a certain volume of renewable fuel, also known as biofuel, to replace or reduce the quantity of petroleum-based transportation fuel,” EPA inspector general (IG) official Jim Kohler said in a podcast.
“It was created with the intent to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand the nation’s renewable fuels sector while reducing reliance on imported oil,” said Kohler, who is an environmental engineer. But the EPA never completed studies that would show whether biofuels are actually reducing greenhouse gases or otherwise helping the environment.
Forgoing these reports “impedes EPA’s ability to identify, consider, mitigate and make policymakers aware of any adverse impacts of biofuels,” Kohler said. “EPA, Congress and other stakeholders lack key information on biofuel impacts needed to make science-based decisions about RFS and U.S. biofuel policy.”
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3 comments:
Fuel cant be food. The more area set aside for growing biofuel the more material it will take to grow said biofuel which defeats the purpose of having the biofuel. I say drill baby drill
The Renewable Fuel Standard put corn at the top of the list as a basis for renewable gasoline additives. The price of corn has gone up, the price of beef (corn fed) has skyrocketed, and the damage to vehicles that are not intended to use alcohol as a fuel has cost the consumers billions of dollars.
The EPA needs to be revamped, from the ground up. Hillary won't. Trump will.
Ethanol has screwed up a lot of 2 cycle and 4 cycle engines in mowers, weed whackers and marine use. The illusion of saving the planet goes down the drain when you have to replace the item with one newly manufactured.
Make ethanol discretionary and let the market decide. And then maybe Cheerios won't cost as much per pound as steak!
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