The US government’s own scientists on Thursday questioned whether corn-based ethanol is better for the environment than traditional petroleum-based fuels, nearly two decades after Congress first mandated its use.
The EPA’s Science Advisory Board — a panel with dozens of experts that reviews how the agency uses research and technical information — agreed to advance a report questioning ethanol’s carbon intensity and urging more study.
At issue is a federal requirement that when EPA quotas compel renewable fuels, they generate no more than 80% the greenhouse gas emissions of gasoline and diesel across their entire life cycle — from the farm to final combustion. But the agency’s science advisers said there’s uncertainty about “how much cropland has expanded to grow corn for ethanol” as a result of annual biofuel-blending quotas under the US’s Renewable Fuel Standard.
The reality is that there’s been “a steep downward trend in the amount of land dedicated to crops since 2007,” said Renewable Fuels Association President Geoff Cooper. Recent increases in corn acres come from land previously planted to grow other crops with less demand, he said.
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