Midwestern leaders want to sell ethanol in summer despite smog risks

Ethanol, a renewable fuel made from corn, is not usually available in the summer months because it is associated with increased levels of smog. The strain of ethanol known as E15, which means it contains 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline, cannot be sold in the summer, specifically from June 1 to September 15.

Fuel releases more pollutants in warmer, wetter conditions, and its production and discharge from vehicles is linked to an effect known as “Summer smogbecause of its chemical composition.

In general, states have had to request one-time waivers for selling E15 in the summer months. Just last year, several states were awarded A’s waiver to sell E15 in the summer to help subsidize the rising costs in the fuel sector resulting from Russian invasion of Ukraine.

As the summer driving season approaches, so have the Midwest governors the invitation To permanently reverse the limits on summer sales, set by the Environmental Protection Agency. If reversed, states would be able to sell E15 throughout the year without the need for a future waiver.

Environmental Protection Agency released Its decision was made in early March, and it decided to allow the petitioning states — Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin — to sell E15 fuel year-round.

But that won’t start until next year, a detail that has some states ready to take the EPA to court.

At best, this delay is arbitrary and capricious. At worst, it is clearly illegal,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Baird and Nebraska Attorney General Mike Helgers wrote in a statement. letter To the EPA urging the agency to enact this new rule by the end of April this year. Other than that, the duo writes, Iowa and Nebraska plan to sue the federal agency over the delay.

In addition to state governors, industry groups have taken their demands for concessions to White House directly, citing the ongoing Russian invasion as well as “growing uncertainty in domestic fuel supplies”.

Midwestern states have a direct interest in increasing the amount of ethanol that ethanol drivers can purchase throughout the year. Iowa leads the country in ethanol production, according to Corn Association of Iowa, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the country’s total production. Nebraska, Illinois and the majority of those who petitioned the EPA follow behind in ethanol production.

Jeff Cooper, President and CEO, Inc Renewable Fuels Association, welcomes the EPA’s decision to increase sales of E15 and commends the demand from Midwestern states to begin sales this year. He said he was “very disappointed” that the EPA had delayed its decision, delaying E15 sales until the summer of 2024.

“There’s an enormous amount of uncertainty in the market right now about what’s going to happen this summer,” Cooper said.

Cooper said the eventual nationwide sale of E15 ethanol is the next step to replacing oil and other fossil fuels with “low-carbon options.” He said the summer ban on E15 sales is an obstacle for the Biden administration stated objectives of net zero emissions by 2050 or earlier.

search from US Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture Ethanol and other biofuels have been found to emit at least 40 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than their petroleum counterparts.

While the fate and economic powerhouse of this corn-based fuel remains in limbo, new research shows that increased production could put protected species at risk and that the fuel isn’t as green as some claim.

Tyler Lark is a research scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. in A newly released studyLark showed how increased biofuel production could harm the country’s endangered species because the need for huge acres of corn and other commodity crops has historically changed the country’s geography and ecology.

In 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rule in favor of environmental groups who have argued the same point. court books that the EPA’s actions were “contrary to standard evidence,” and that the agency violated the Endangered Species Act when it did not consult with federal wildlife management groups before setting renewable fuel standards.

The renewable fuel sector has boom As the energy sector continues to move away from fossil fuels, with more and more Expansion on the horizon. Lark said that while a shift away from fossil fuels is an immediate need, how industries make the shift will greatly affect land use and environmental health.

“We expect to see farmers respond by switching crops to maize, which is more intensive cultivation, requires more fertilizer and generates more problems with runoff and soil erosion,” Lark said.

Prairie and grassland are being turned into acres of corn that have to be guarded and their soils disturbed on an annual basis, Lark said. The new study links increased corn production to water pollution and threats to aquatic species by fertilizers and pesticides that seep into rivers and streams, creating “dead zones.” across the country.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for determining the amount of renewable fuels, such as ethanol or biogas, needed each year under guidelines known as the Renewable Fuel Standard. These guidelines are intended to stabilize this fuel sector, but so have environmental groups Criticism of agency accreditation On fuel sources that harm the environment and public health.

in study released last yearLark and other researchers found that although ethanol is described as a greener fuel than pure gasoline, the entire fuel cycle is at least 24 percent more carbon intensive than gasoline.

“The role of corn ethanol is in the air at this point because we know it’s not as climate-friendly as we had hoped,” Lark said.

Silvia Secchi is a researcher and professor in the Department of Geographic Sciences and Sustainability at the University of Iowa. She said she witnessed the “destruction of the state’s landscape” wrought by ethanol, given that Iowa is the pinnacle of the nation corn production state, where mass production of corn to feed industry has increased soil damage and water pollution from chemical runoff.

Ha research Lark’s precedes and also indicates a decline in land conservation associated with an increase in corn commodities used in ethanol production. Paying for year-round E15 sales is not a solution to the climate crisis, Secchi said, but a distraction.

“Ethanol is not a substitute for gasoline. It is a supplement to them,” Secchi told Greste, referring to the fact that gasoline and ethanol are mixed. “The industry is basically trying to slow and delay the transition away from fossil fuels for as long as possible.”

This article originally appeared in grist in https://grist.org/energy/midwest-sell-ethanol-summer-smog-risk/. Grist is an independent, non-profit media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and just futures. Learn more through grist.org