The Environmental Protection Agency’s latest proposal for more “stringent standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty (HD) vehicles” once again misses the mark for tapping readily available resources in cleaner transportation.
The EPA’s proposal would require electric vehicles (EVs) to make up about two-thirds of new car sales by 2032, making it the Biden administration’s “most ambitious pollution standards ever for cars and trucks,” according to EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
Unfortunately, that plan skips over corn-based ethanol, which serves as a readily-available fuel source. Farmers and the ethanol industry have made tremendous strides to fuel the nation in a sustainable way. That was reinforced during times of uncertainty with fuel availability.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, uncertainty in commodity markets sent crude oil prices on a rampant climb to more than $120 a barrel. With historically high gas prices, many consumer wallets were squeezed. To help remedy the headache at the pump, Biden announced a plan to help boost ethanol sales to lower fuel costs.
Surrounded by farmers and other rural citizens in a cleaned-out barn in Menlo, Iowa, he said, “You simply can’t get to net zero by 2050 without biofuels.”
In his speech, Biden seemed to have sided with farmers. However, the latest EPA proposal goes against his previous partnership. Collaboration with the renewable fuels industry will easily be truncated by government proposals that forego solutions that utilize readily-available resources such as ethanol and renewable diesel.
Renewable fuel companies already came out against the EPA’s regulation standard.
Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor
Ethanol-blended fuels offer low-emission options at the pump, all while lowering the cost of fuel for Americans. Recently, the EPA issued an emergency waiver to allow summer-time sales of E15, which was applauded by farm and biofuel groups. The announcement was a step in the right direction since the EPA’s EV proposal.
The Biden administration needs to maintain a focus on readily-available solutions to help achieve its climate goals instead of capering over them.