Congress in 2007 mandated an increase in biofuel production, peaking at 36 billion gallons a year by 2022. It also called for corn ethanol to emit 20% fewer greenhouse gases than gasoline, and ethanol made from crops such as switchgrass or wood chips to release 60% less.
The EPA rules proposed Tuesday include indirect land-use calculations in tallying emission. Many crops grown specifically for biofuels, such as switchgrass, pass the test easily. In many cases, corn and soy-based biodiesel do not.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, May 07, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 2 inches; 64 words Type of Material: Correction
Corn ethanol tax breaks: An article and headline in Wednesday's Section A about the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed renewable-fuel standards said that the standards could lead to an end to tax breaks for corn ethanol because the gasoline additive could add to global warming. Though the EPA's proposal could undermine the original rationale for the tax breaks, only Congress can change the tax provisions.
The move comes on the heels of a California Air Resources Board decision last month to factor indirect land use into the state's renewable fuels standard.
Nathanael Greene, director of renewable energy policy for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that the administration "looked at the science and decided they were going to do the best analysis they could on land-use impacts. . . . They stuck by it through a lot of political pressure."
Industry groups seized on the EPA's pledge to conduct "peer reviews" of the science underlying indirect land-use analysis, which ethanol interests and many independent scientists say has too high an error margin to be used when calculating a fuel's emissions.
jtankersley@latimes.com
