Are renewable fuels really green? Environmentalists say no.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new standards for how much of the country’s fuel supply should come from renewable sources.

The proposal, announced last month, seeks to increase the mandatory requirements set by the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). Created in 2005, the program encourages the use of renewable fuels (corn-based ethanol, fertilizer-based biogas, wood pellets, etc.) to reduce and reduce the use of petroleum-based transportation fuels, kerosene, or jet fuel. products) to use. Greenhouse gas emissions.

The new requirements are the subject of intense debate between industry leaders who say the recent proposals will help stabilize markets in the years to come, and environmental groups who say the preferred fuels will bring significant environmental costs. caused the

Below is a grist guide to this growing debate that breaks down exactly what these fuels are, how they are created and how they change under the EPA’s new proposals.

fuel

renewable fuel is a generic term for bio-based fuels mandated by the EPA to be blended into the U.S. fuel supply. This category includes fuels produced from planted crops, planted trees, animal waste and by-products, and wood debris from ecologically sensitive areas that are not federal forestlands. increase. Under RFS, renewable fuels are expected to replace fossil fuels, used for transportation and heating across the country, and produce 20% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than alternatives.

Under the new EPA proposal, renewable fuels will increase by about 9% by the end of 2025, adding nearly 2 billion gallons. The new EPA proposal sets a target of approximately 21 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2023, including more than 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol. By 2025, the EPA hopes to supply the nation with more than his 22 billion gallons of various renewable fuel sources.

advanced biofuel, a type of renewable fuel that includes fuels made from crop waste, animal waste, food waste, and yard waste. This also includes biogas, a natural gas produced from methane produced by animal and human waste. Advanced biofuels include ethanol as well as fuels made from sugar and starch.

In its latest proposal, the EPA is proposing to increase the use of these fuels by approximately 14% from 2023 to 2024, and by 12% in the following year. The EPA hopes to bring about 6 billion gallons of advanced biofuels to market by this year.

Located within the advanced biofuel category are: biomass-based diesel, a fuel source made from vegetable oils and animal fats. This fuel can also be produced from oil, waste and sludge produced in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Under a new EPA proposal, the agency is proposing a 2% year-over-year increase in these fuels by the end of 2025. This equates to approximately 3 billion gallons in the end.

cellulosic biofuelBy another type of renewable fuel, “crops, trees, forest residues, and agricultural residues not specifically grown for food, including barley grain, grape seed, rice bran, rice husk, rice straw, and soybean matter” The liquid fuel that is created. The same is true for sugarcane by-products, according to the 2005 law.

The EPA’s recent proposal aims to nearly double the use of these fuels by 2024. It then increases by 50% the following year, equivalent to 2 billion gallons.

The new RFS proposal also aims to create a more standardized pathway for using renewable fuels to power electric vehicles, as more and more drivers are turning to EVs in recent years. I hope

“We are very pleased with what the EPA has proposed for 2023-2025,” Renewable Fuel Association president and CEO Geoff Cooper told Grist.

Cooper said the EPA and the Biden administration recognize that alternative fuels are a growing and needed sector while the country moves away from fossil fuels. will help grow the biofuel industry, Cooper said, predicting more producers of ethanol, biomass, or biogas over the next few years.

“I think the government realizes that we’re not going to electrify everything overnight,” Cooper said.

controversy

Renewable fuel standards have been approved by industry producers and the federal government, but environmental groups believe investments in ethanol, biomass, and biogas are doubling dirty fuels. I’m here.

“Biofuels are generally based on the false premise that they help meet climate change goals,” said Brett Hartle, director of government affairs at the nonprofit environmental group Center for Biological Diversity. Therefore, it is not reassuring.

Hartl says investing in increased corn production to fuel ethanol will continue harmful agricultural practices that erode the soil, dump large amounts of pesticides on corn crops, and pollute water throughout the country and the Gulf of Mexico. The United States is the world’s largest corn producer, with 40% of the corn produced being used for ethanol.

A study published earlier this year from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that when demand for corn increases due to increased mixing requirements from the RFS, prices also rise, prompting farmers to add more fertilizer products. . By fossil fuels, to crops. The EPA’s own internal research also shows that greenhouse gas emissions will increase over the next three years as federal mandates increase blending requirements.

The Center for Biological Diversity is critical of the EPA’s past efforts to help the EPA without calculating the environmental impact of how it produces renewable fuels, and is currently in a legal battle with federal agencies. They are not the only ones to criticize.

Tarah Heinzen, general counsel for Food & Water Watch, a non-profit environmental watchdog, said in a statement that industrial corn production and biogas, a fuel produced from animal and food waste, will continue to grow. Both increases are not part of a clean energy future, he said.

“Relying on dirty fuels such as factory farm gas and ethanol to clean up our transportation sector only digs a deeper pit,” Heinsen said. We need to recognize this by reducing rather than increasing the requirements for the amount of these dirty energy sources in the standards.”

Alternative fuels such as biogas and biomass (fuel made from trees and wood pulp) are gaining momentum thanks to the ethanol boom in the renewable fuel category. The biogas industry is booming thanks to the tax incentives created by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Biomass is a growing industry in the South, with wood pellet mills emerging in recent years. Scientists around the world have denounced the industry’s proposal that burning wood for electricity is carbon neutral, with 650 scientists signing a recent letter denouncing the industry’s claims. .

The world’s largest producer of wood pellet biomass energy says it will use whole trees to generate electricity, despite the company’s claims to sustainably harvest only tree branches to produce energy. criticized by whistleblowers. The wood pellet facility has faced opposition from local government and federal lawmakers, and members of his community in Springfield, Massachusetts, successfully blocked a permit for the new biomass facility in November.

Despite concerns from environmental groups, the EPA’s projected demand indicates that the country is pushing for greater use of these fuels in the years to come. This spring, a bipartisan group of Midwestern governors sought a permanent exemption from selling higher-blended ethanol year-round, despite summertime smog caused by higher blends of renewable fuels. I asked the EPA. More recently, Missouri officials sought the same waiver.