Renewable Fuel Standards Waiver Request by Texas Governor Denied by Feds
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 08. 7.08
photo by Joe Lencioni
A few months ago, citing rising corn prices hurting his state’s livestock industry and which he linked to Federal ethanol-blending requirements, Texas governor Rick Perry filed a waiver request with the EPA to reduce the Renewable Fuel Standards requirement by half.
Next Years’ Biofuel Requirement Stays at 11.1 Billion Gallons
Today the EPA has announced that is has denied this request. The total volume of biofuels (both ethanol and biodiesel) which are mandated to be blended into the fuel supply will remain at 9 billion gallons in 2008 and 11.1 billion gallons in 2009.
EPA administrator Stephen Johnson:
After reviewing the facts, it was clear this request did not meet the criteria in the law. The RFS remains an important tool in our ongoing efforts to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions and lessen our dependence on foreign oil, in aggressive yet practical ways.
Under current law, the EPA can grant a waiver if it determines that the mandated biofuel requirement would cause "severe harm" to the economy or environment.
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The Governor of Texas working together with the Grocery Manufacturers Association hyped the impact of increasing ethanol production on the price of corn. Recently, studies by Texas A&M and Purdue demonstrated that skyrocketing oil prices have had more to do with driving up the price of corn and food than ethanol. EPA's decision was fact based and analytical and the right one, because the Governor of Texas failed to show that the Renewable Fuels Standard passed by Congress last year was causing severe harm to a state, region or the nation.
As a Texan, I was a tad perturbed at Rick Perry for requesting this. I'm pleased that it's been denied, even though corn prices are putting a damper on the livestock industry but it doesn't effect me nearly as much as it used to since my husband and I are drastically reducing our meat and poultry intake.
Uh, try something other than corn? Yeehaw!
I disagree with Ed's analysis of the EPA's ruling. While it was certainly "fact based and analytical," it had nothing to do with whether it was the right decision or not from an environmental standpoint.
What we are see in this case is a clash between two major lobbies: the farmers, who want to use low-grade corn to produce heavily subsidized ethanol, and the beef business who want to have cheap corn feed for cattle.
The EPA simply decided that at this juncture, cheap gas is more important than cheap food.