Despite concern about increased air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and the potential to harm endangered species, a bipartisan group of Midwest governors and fuel industry leaders are pushing the federal government to approve increased ethanol sales this summer.
Ethanol, a renewable fuel made from corn, is not usually available in the summer months as it is associated with increased levels of smog. The ethanol strain known as E15, which means it is a maximum of 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline, cannot be sold during the summer, specifically from June 1 to September 15.
The fuel releases more pollutants in warmer, wetter conditions, and its production and emissions from vehicles are linked to a phenomenon known as “smog in summer“, due to its chemical composition.
In general, states had to request one-time exemptions to sell E15 in the summer months. Just last year, several states granted a resignation to sell E15 in the summer to help shore up increased fuel costs caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
With the summer driving season just around the corner, Midwestern state governors were advocating for the definitive overturning of the limits on summer sales, set by the Environmental Protection Agency. If reversed, states would be able to sell E15 year-round without requiring a variance in the future.
The EPA was released its decision in early March and 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 poised to take the EPA to court.
“At best, this delay is arbitrary and capricious. At worst, it is plainly illegal,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Byrd and Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers wrote. letter to the EPA urging the agency to adopt this new rule by the end of April of this year. Otherwise, the duo wrote, Iowa and Nebraska plan to sue the federal agency over the delay.
In addition to state governors, industry groups have accepted their requests for resignations White House directly, citing the ongoing Russian invasion as well as “increasing uncertainty in domestic fuel supplies.”
Midwestern states have a vested interest in increasing the amount of ethanol drivers can purchase year-round. Iowa leads the nation in ethanol production, according to the Iowa Corn Association, accounting for about 30 percent of the country's total output. Nebraska, Illinois and the majority of EPA petitioners follow back in ethanol production.
Geoff Cooper, its chairman and chief executive Renewable Fuels Association, applauds the EPA's decision to increase E15 sales and praised the demand from Midwest states to begin sales this year. He said he was “quite disappointed” that the EPA delayed its decision, which postponed sales of E15 until the summer of 2024.
“There's a huge amount of uncertainty in the market right now about what's going to happen this summer,” Cooper said.
Cooper said an eventual nationwide sale of E15 ethanol is the next step in replacing oil and other fossil fuels with “low-carbon options.” He said the summer ban on E15 sales is an obstacle to the Biden administration's stated goals of zero emissions by 2050 or sooner.
Research from US Department of Energy and Agriculture Department found that ethanol and other biofuels emit at least 40 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than their petroleum counterparts.
While the fate of this corn-based fuel and economic powerhouse remains in limbo, new research has shown that increased production could endanger protected species and the fuel is not as green as some claim.
Tyler Lark is a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. In a recently published studyLark described how increased biofuel production could harm the nation's endangered species, as the need for vast acres of corn and other staple crops has historically changed the nation's geography and environment.
In 2021, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in favor environmental groups that argued the same point. The court He wrote that the EPA's actions were “contrary to the evidence” and that the agency violated the Endangered Species Act when it failed to consult with federal wildlife management groups before setting renewable fuel standards.
UGC/Getty Images
The renewable fuel sector has grown while the energy sector continues to move away from fossil fuels, with ever greater expansion on the horizon. Lark said that while moving away from fossil fuels is an immediate need, how industries go about this shift will greatly affect land use and environmental health.
“We would expect to see farmers respond by switching crops to corn, which is much more intensive to grow, requires more fertilizer and creates more problems with runoff and soil erosion,” Lark said.
Lark said pastures and meadows are being turned into acres of corn that must be cultivated and disturbed on an annual basis. The new study linked increased corn production to water pollution and threats to aquatic species from fertilizers and pesticides that run off into rivers and streams, creating “dead zones” across the country.
The EPA is responsible for setting how much renewable fuel, such as ethanol or biogas, is needed each year under guidance known as the Renewable Fuel Standard. That guidance aims to stabilize that fuel sector, but environmental groups have criticized the agency's reliance on fuel sources that are harmful to the environment and public health.
In a study released last yearLark and other researchers found that while ethanol has been touted 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 up in the air at this point because we know it's not as climate-friendly as we'd hoped,” Lark said.
Silvia Secchi is a researcher and professor in the Department of Geographic and Sustainability Sciences at the University of Iowa. He said he's seen the “devastation of the state's landscape” that ethanol has wrought, given that Iowa tops the nation of corn they say, as the mass production of corn for industrial fuel has led to increased soil destruction and water pollution from chemical runoff.
Her research predates Lark's and also points to a decline in land conservation associated with the increase in corn products used for ethanol production. Secchi said the year-round push for E15 sales isn't a solution to the climate crisis, but a distraction.
“Ethanol is not a substitute for gasoline. it's a complement to them,” Secchi told Grist, referring to the fact that gasoline and ethanol are mixed. “The industry is essentially trying to slow down and delay the transition away from fossil fuels for as long as they can.”
