[Iowa-dx] Fwd: Ethanol goes less green

[hhart@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu]

http://skybluewaters.org/blog1/2006/10/16/ethanol-goes-less-green/
Posted: October 16th, 2006
Ethanol goes less green

Michael Hawthorne reports for the Chicago Tribune, on what is best summed
up by the title of this story, ?An End Run on Ethanol.?

As President Bush promotes ethanol as a green alternative to gasoline, his
administration is quietly relaxing environmental rules for dozens of new
corn-to-fuel refineries sprouting up across the nation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is planning to change the way
ethanol plants are treated under the Clean Air Act, a move critics say
could make it easier for the burgeoning industry to evade controls that
dramatically reduce toxic air pollution.

The shift in policy would give a break to agricultural conglomerates and
newcomers seeking to cash in quickly on the nation?s growing thirst for
renewable fuel. More than 40 new ethanol plants are expected to be built
during the next year, boosting U.S. production by 30 percent.

Industry supporters say the new rule is crucial to sustaining the ethanol
boom, which they contend will reduce the nation?s dependence on imported
oil and cut greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.

Complaints spark inquiry
EPA regulators had decided to take a closer look at the refineries after
complaints about noxious odors coming from several ethanol plants in the
Midwest. The agency discovered many were emitting carbon monoxide,
methanol and cancer-causing chemicals at levels far greater than owners
had reported.
?Those facilities were prosecuted under the exact law they?re proposing
to
weaken,? said John Walke, director of the Natural Resource Defense
Council?s clean air project. ?They?re cutting corners now so the wave
of
new ethanol plants can be bigger, cheaper and dirtier.?

But whether ethanol is good for the environment is being questioned.
The fuel additive releases somewhat less carbon dioxide than
gasoline?reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that are making the
planet hotter.
But the EPA recently reported that pumping more ethanol into cars and
trucks is expected to increase levels of other chemicals that create smog,
which can aggravate respiratory ailments.

Existing clean-air rules consider ethanol plants as major sources of air
pollution if they emit more than 100 tons of toxic chemicals a year. Those
that do must go through an intensive?and time-consuming?permit process.
They also must install equipment that burns off most of the emissions.
Under the proposed changes, ethanol plants wouldn?t be subject to the
stringent federal requirements unless they spewed more than 250 tons of
air pollution per year. Most of the new refineries are expected to emit a
few tons less than that.

The difference in emissions could be substantial, in part because the
control equipment must reduce pollution levels by up to 95 percent.
It has never been about the environment, alternative fuels, or energy
independence. It is all about the money.







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