WASHINGTON, D.C.—Growth Energy, the nation’s largest biofuels trade association, defended the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and its contributions to climate progress today at a hearing hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Science Advisory Board (SAB).
The hearing focused on a draft anti-ethanol commentary that SAB released last month that relied on cherry-picked data to arrive at the inaccurate conclusion that biofuels like ethanol make little or no contribution to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In his testimony at the hearing, Growth Energy Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley pointed to numerous studies that demonstrated the emissions benefits of ethanol, and urged SAB to ultimately withdraw its original draft.
“Years of peer-reviewed research from scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Lab, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Environmental Health and Engineering have all concluded that today’s ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 50% compared to gasoline,” said Bliley. “Studies claiming otherwise consistently ignore hard data in favor of questionable assumptions and outdated projections about land use.”
Bliley’s full testimony as prepared for delivery can be found here.