DECATUR — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be tasked with deciding whether to waive corn ethanol production mandates included in the Renewable Fuels Standard.
The EPA was granted the authority in the 2005 Energy Policy Act to change the volume of renewable fuel that must be produced because of severe economic or environmental harm. The Energy Policy Act set the initial Renewable Fuels Standard, and the standard was expanded in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.
The rules for how such a waiver could be implemented were written in 2009.
The measure requires 13.2 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol be produced in 2012 and 13.8 billion gallons in 2013, using about 4.7 billion and 4.9 billion bushels of the nation’s corn.
Corn supply estimates dropped to 10.8 billion bushels in August, reduced from 14.8 billion in June, a difference representing approximately the amount of corn used in ethanol production.
The benefit of the Renewable Fuels Standard has been a subject of debate since it was implemented, but groups such as the Illinois Corn Growers Association view it as having a positive impact.
The standard “has consistently helped this nation become less dependent on foreign sources of petroleum, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide a less expensive choice at the pump for cash-strapped Americans,” said Jeff Scates, the corn group’s president.
The corn growers support the emergency safety value regarding volume requirements that is currently the subject of debate due to the drought impacting much of the nation.
As the ethanol industry has expanded, its impact has grown, said Bob Dinneen, the president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, the national trade association for the U.S. ethanol industry.
“Perhaps the most telling evidence of the state of the ethanol industry and the success that it has become is the economic revitalization happening all across rural America,” Dinneen said. “Ethanol has become the single most important value added market for farmers, stimulating investment and allowing farmers to get their income from the marketplace, not the taxpayer. That’s not theory; that’s a fact.”
Dinneen said that ethanol has fundamentally improved the nation’s energy future, rural economies and way of life.
