WASHINGTON – Following the release today of a report by the Government Accountability Office examining the production of biofuels in the United States, Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis issued the following statement:
“If the Environmental Protection Agency is going to amend the Renewable Fuels Standard, they need to do it right. This report by the Government Accountability Office, the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress, has weighed in on EPA’s proposal, and we are not surprised to see that many of its findings mirror the positions of Growth Energy.
“On the unsettled science of International Indirect Land Use Change, the GAO has come down firmly on our side of the debate: there is no scientific consensus on ILUC. As we’ve said all along, ILUC is a concept and a theory – it is not proven, and there is no agreement in the scientific community that if it exists, how it can be accurately measured. We agree completely with GAO’s assessment that the proposal to incorporate ILUC into RFS would greatly complicate the agency’s ability to complete writing this rule.
“Further, GAO’s assessment of the challenges to overcome before RFS can increase biofuel volumes is dead-on with Growth Energy’s assessment in that we need to build out the nation’s ethanol-delivery infrastructure. As clearly stated on p. 10 of the GAO report, the nation faces limits on the distribution, use and storage of ethanol because of a lack of appropriate infrastructure. That is why we support bipartisan legislation, authored by Sens. Tom Harkin and Richard Lugar, to build out ethanol pipelines and curb-side delivery systems such as blender pumps, and increase the number of Flex Fuel Vehicles on the market. Only by taking these measures can we meet the intent of Congress, increase the volume of renewable fuels in this country, and give consumers more choice about what they pump into their vehicles.
“The members of Growth Energy know that the Renewable Fuel Standard was designed to promote the nation’s ability to produce renewable fuels – not to build new regulatory obstacles to domestic, renewable fuels. Congress passed RFS because ethanol is the only alternative we have to foreign oil, and we have it right now. Ethanol creates U.S. jobs, it cuts greenhouse gas emissions and it reinforces our economic and national security.”
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About Growth Energy
Growth Energy is a group committed to the promise of agriculture and growing America’s economy through cleaner, greener energy. Growth Energy members recognize America needs a new ethanol approach. Through smart policy reform and a proactive grassroots campaign, Growth energy promotes reducing greenhouse gas emissions, expanding the use of ethanol in gasoline, decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, and creating American jobs at home. More information can be found at GrowthEnergy.org.