Corn-based Ethanol in Fuel Does More Environmental Harm than Good

There are times when the "all-knowing" governments get it completely wrong. The push for greater ethanol production, carried out in the name of saving the planet, is one of those times. The excessive production of ethanol from corn has done great harm to the environment. In addition, it has caused the release of far more carbon dioxide - the gas that is blamed for alleged global warming - into the atmosphere than the burning of ethanol could ever hope to save. In a long report, the Associated Press wrote : “The consequences are so severe that environmentalists and many scientists have now rejected corn-based ethanol as bad environmental policy.” The AP added : “But the Obama administration stands by it, highlighting its benefits to the farming industry rather than any negative impact.” Washington has long encouraged the production of ethanol as a “green” alternative to fossil fuels, but the policy got a big boost in 2007 when Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed a law mandating the blending of ethanol into gasoline. The law was supported wholeheartedly by then-Senator Barack Obama. However, in December last year, a group of 10 US Senators introduced a bipartisan bill to eliminate the corn ethanol mandate, arguing that current law raises the cost of food and animal feed and damages the environment. The bill, introduced by Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat; Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican; and eight co-sponsors, faces an uphill battle from many lawmakers from agricultural states that support the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that requires that increasing volumes of ethanol made from grains, including corn, be blended into motor fuel. Feinstein said the bill supports development of advanced biofuels, including those from made from soybean oil, grasses and trees, but it would eliminate the mandate for corn-based ethanol, which currently represents the vast majority of biofuels produced in the United States. She said the corn mandate raises animal feed costs and human food prices. Coburn said the corn ethanol mandate costs taxpayers billions of dollars and causes higher fuel prices at the pump. "Eliminating this mandate will let market forces, rather than political and parochial forces, determine how to diversify fuel supplies in an ever-changing marketplace," Coburn said. In a further blow to the ethanol industry, last month the Environmental Protection Agency, which administers the RFS, proposed the first cut in the use of biofuels since the law was expanded in 2007. The EPA proposed cutting the overall 2014 mandate to 15.21 billion gallons, about 16% less than the current 2014 mandate's 18.15 billion gallons, and below this year's requirement of 16.55 billion gallons. The final EPA decision has not yet been made. ~~~~~ And leaked drafts of a soon-to-be-released United Nations report will say that growing crops to make “green” biofuel harms the environment and drives up food prices. The UN report will officially condemn the widespread use of biofuels made from crops as a replacement for petrol and diesel. It will say that biofuels, rather than combating the effects of global warming, could make them worse. This is a 180-degree reversal for the UN watchdog groups that have been vocal leaders in the current push to blend ethanol into transport fuels in order to reduce CO2 emissions - a conclusion that the new UN biofuel report will reject.~~~~~ Bucking the trend, a US appeals court on Tuesday threw out an oil industry challenge to the Obama administration's 2013 biofuel mandate, ruling that the government has "wide latitude" to decide whether to modify renewable fuel use targets, and by how much. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the lead appeals court for administrative questions, rejected arguments from refiners that the Environmental Protection Agency had not thoroughly considered how renewable fuel credits are used to satisfy federal targets. The ruling could have broad implications for the biofuel mandate, as various groups weigh challenges to EPA's management of the program. The EPA's final 2014 quotas are due out in June. The Renewable Fuel Standard requires increasing amounts of biofuels, such as corn-based ethanol, to be blended into US gasoline and diesel supplies through 2022. US refiners need to accumulate credits, or Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), to prove they have blended their share of renewable fuels into gasoline and diesel. If they do not blend, they need to buy RINs. The oil industry unsuccessfully urged the EPA to lower the federal mandate to use 16.55 billion gallons of biofuels in 2013, saying it would unduly burden refiners, arguing that EPA should not consider the use of left-over ethanol credits from 2012 when setting targets for 2013. "This contention is meritless," the court said, adding that "EPA was entitled to conclude, as it did, that it had wide latitude to consider a range of factors as appropriate." Monroe Energy, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines that operates the Trainer refinery complex in Pennsylvania, said the EPA's decision not to cut 2013 biofuel targets did not take into account the fact that companies might need to carry over some ethanol credits for use in 2014, when it finalized the 2013 targets. The company said the spike in RIN prices last year could cost Monroe more than $100 million. But the court ruled that expensive fuel credits were not enough to warrant vacating the target and that there was "no ground to conclude the 2013 standards are unlawful simply because RINs are costlier than in prior years." The court said that higher RIN prices should provide an incentive to invest in more appropriate infrastructure and in diversification of the fuel supply. Other challenges to the 2013 biofuel rule have not yet been ruled upon, the court noted. The biofuel mandate was conceived at a time when fuel demand was expected to rise steadily. But a slow economy and rising auto efficiency have kept fuel use stagnant, putting the nation on a course where the biofuel mandate will require more use of ethanol than US fuel markets can currently absorb. It was the approach of this so called "blend wall" that boosted RIN prices in 2013. ~~~~~ Dear readers, it is very easy for governments and international organizations to make environmental policy decisions. These decisions are often driven by both private lobbying groups whose environmental positions are ill-thought out and by groups of scientists who use questionable data to reach incorrect recommendations. The truth is that the earth's environment is an incredibly complex system whose various components are often only vaguely understood. Add to this the fact that attempting to find trends in atmospheric conditions is almost impossible because data exists for approximately 400 of the earth's 9 billion (9,000,000,000) year history. These are odds one might accept in buying a lotto ticket -- but dabbling with the future of our planet based on such a small data sample is foolhardy and exrtemely dangerous for our Blue Planet's future.