Saturday, November 17, 2012

EPA Retains Gasahol Fuel Folly

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday rejected a request from eight governors and nearly 200 members of Congress to waive requirements for the use of corn-based ethanol in gasoline, after last summer's severe drought wilted much of the nation's corn crop...

"We recognize that this year's drought has created hardship in some sectors of the economy, particularly for livestock producers," said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. "But our extensive analysis makes clear that congressional requirements for a waiver have not been met and that waiving the RFS will have little, if any, impact."

Michal Rosenoer, biofuels policy campaigner at Friends of the Earth, criticized the EPA decision. "If the worst U.S. drought in more than 50 years and skyrocketing food prices are not enough to make EPA act, it falls to Congress to provide relief from our senseless federal support for corn ethanol," he said.

"The RFS is a broken policy — rather than giving us clean energy, it's incentivizing biofuels like corn ethanol that are exacerbating our economic and environmental problems.
Corn ethanol for fuel is almost universally acknowledged as a waste of decent resources, and a subsidy for corn producers.  It actually costs more energy to make than it makes when used, and produces more CO2 emissions than gasoline.

Corn has enough good uses, food, livestock food, and liquor. Isn't that enough?

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