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 While the proposal highlights the government's struggle to ramp up
production of homegrown biofuels that are cleaner-burning than
gasoline, it is unlikely to mean much for consumers at the pump.
The change would reduce by almost 3 billion gallons the amounts of
ethanol and other biofuels blended into gasoline in 2014 than the
law requires.
The 2007 law tried to address global warming, reduce dependence on
foreign oil and prop up the rural economy by requiring oil companies
to blend billions of gallons of biofuels into their gasoline each
year. But politicians who wrote the law didn't anticipate fuel
economy to improve as much as it has in recent years, which reduced
demand for gasoline.
Meanwhile, next-generation biofuels, made from agricultural waste
such as wood chips and corncobs, have not taken off as quickly as
Congress required and the administration expected.
President Barack Obama has championed biofuels since his days
representing Illinois in the Senate, and his administration has
resisted previous calls to lower biofuel volumes or repeal the law.
EPA officials said they were still committed to alternative fuels as
part of a comprehensive energy strategy. If the EPA stuck to the
volumes mandated by law, the amount of biofuel required would
generate more ethanol than many engines can safely handle, officials
said.
"We have made great progress in recent years, and EPA continues to
support the RFS goal of increasing biofuel production and use," EPA
Administrator Gina McCarthy, referring to the 2007 law called the
Renewable Fuel Standard.
Biofuel supporters, however, said the proposal marked a departure
for the Obama administration.
"This is the first time that the Obama administration has shown any
sign of wavering," said Brooke Coleman, executive director of the
Advanced Ethanol Council.
Bob Dinneen, the head of the Renewable Fuels Association, the
Washington group that lobbies on behalf of the ethanol industry,
said the announcement is ill-timed as the country is currently
harvesting a record corn crop. He said the industry may sue if the
proposal is not altered.
"This is exactly the wrong time to be reducing the required volumes
of renewable fuels," Dinneen said. The ethanol mandate created an
unusual alliance between oil companies, which have seen ethanol cut
into their share of the gasoline market, and environmental groups
that oppose planting more corn for fuel. A recent AP investigation
found that corn-based ethanol's effect on the environment is far
worse than the government predicted or admits.
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The oil industry lobbied hard for a reduction and is pleading with
Congress to completely repeal the law.
Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute,
said the EPA's move is a step in the right direction, but
"ultimately, Congress must protect consumers by repealing this
outdated and unworkable program once and for all."
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.,
said his panel is working on "comprehensive reforms" to the law.
"The status quo is no longer workable," Upton said.
Also in the proposal, the requirement for the amount of
next-generation biofuels from nonfood plant sources, called
cellulosic fuels, has been reduced for the fifth time in five years.
The original law required 1.75 billion gallons of this fuel, which
offers huge reductions in greenhouse gases compared with oil. For
2014, refiners would be required to blend 17 million gallons.
That's because companies have not yet been able to generate these
fuels, which are far more complicated to produce than conventional
biofuels, at high volumes. The target for next year does represent
an increase from last year's 6 million gallons, though, and
cellulosic fuels are the only category of biofuel to increase under
the 2014 proposal. Two new cellulosic biofuel refineries are
expected to begin producing fuel early next year.
[Associated
Press; DINA CAPPIELLO and
MARY CLARE JALONICK]
Associated Press writer Jonathan Fahey contributed to this report
from New York. Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/dinacappiello
and Mary Clare Jalonick at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick.
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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