| April 10, 2007 |  |
UCS Media Alert: EPA/DOE Announce Renewable Fuel/CAFE Plans
UCS Media Alert: EPA/DOE Announce Renewable Fuel/CAFE Plans
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson this afternoon is announcing the agency's final rulemaking for the renewable fuel standard (RFS), a federal mandate enacted by the 2005 Energy Policy Act requiring as much as 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, to be blended into America's fuel supply by 2012.
At the same time, Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator Nicole Nason will discuss administration plans for modernizing vehicle fuel economy standards. (The joint agency press event is at 2 pm at EPA headquarters, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, third floor.)
Making more efficient cars and trucks and filling them up with renewable fuels can reduce global warming pollution and help break our national oil addiction, but to maximize the benefits and minimize unintended consequences, we must ensure fuels become cleaner over time, says the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
NOT ALL BIOFUELS ARE EQUAL
As the ink is drying on the new EPA regulation, federal legislators are considering new RFS legislation. As they do, UCS says they must ensure that any new policies consider the amount of global warming pollution each biofuel generates and protect our land, water, and air.
"Not all biofuels are created equal," said Steven Bantz, a senior engineer at UCS. "We need to make sure we invest in the cleaner, low-carbon biofuels to substantially cut global warming pollution. If we don't, we could wind up with more problems than we have now."
Producing and using biofuels often requires energy from fossil fuels, and the total global warming pollution generated can vary depending on the biomass and land used, and the production, delivery method, and ultimate use, Bantz said. Therefore, the federal government must evaluate biofuels on the basis of global warming emissions per unit of energy they emit over their full life cycle, from the field to the tailpipe.
"Likewise, expanding biomass production to meet U.S. energy needs could have unintended consequences for the air we breath, the water we drink, and the land we value," Bantz added. New policies should establish standards for producing and using bioenergy in ways that protect air, water and soil quality; value and conserve biodiversity; and limit the risks of invasive and genetically modified plants.
WE NEED A ROBUST FUEL ECONOMY LAW
Don MacKenzie, a UCS vehicles engineer, says that increasing the fuel economy of new cars and trucks is the fastest, most effective way to cut U.S. oil dependence and vehicle global warming emissions.
"Conventional, off-the-shelf technologies can increase the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks to 40 miles per gallon within 10 years, which is a 60 percent increase from today's average," he said. "The Bush administration should support fuel economy proposals in the House and Senate that require mandatory increases in fuel economy of 4 percent per year, a target the president embraced in his State of the Union speech earlier this year."
A UCS analysis shows that increasing average fuel economy standards to 35 mpg by 2018 would save consumers $13 billion in that year alone, while cutting annual global warming pollution by nearly 200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
