News Coverage
Texas Eyes New Bid to Waive RFS As EPA Rejects 'Economic' Pitch
Published August 13, 2008
Gov. Rick Perry (R) is signaling the state may pursue a new petition to have EPA waive the renewable fuel standard's (RFS) mandates for corn ethanol due to its environmental harms as Administrator Stephen Johnson announced Aug. 7 that the agency would be denying Perry's request to waive the standard due to economic harms.
Just before Johnson's announcement, Perry Aug. 6 filed supplemental comments to EPA reserving his right to seek a waiver due to the RFS' harms to air and water quality. "Some of the comments submitted on the waiver issues have reinforced growing concerns within the State government that the mandates may be contributing significantly to environmental problems in Texas and elsewhere," Texas' comments say.
Earlier this year, Perry petitioned EPA to waive 50 percent of the 2007 energy law's RFS -- which requires 9 billion gallons of ethanol for 2008 -- due to the "severe economic harm" the standard was having on livestock farmers, who are suffering from increased corn feed prices.
EPA denied the request, saying it did not meet the statutory criteria for granting the waiver. "The agency recognizes that high commodity prices are having economic impacts, but EPA's extensive analysis of Texas' request found no compelling evidence that the RFS mandate is causing severe economic harm during the time period specified by Texas," EPA said in an August 7 statement.
But Texas' reservation of its rights could launch a new waiver bid due to the standard's environmental harm, an issue that some environmentalists have already raised in comments on Texas' petition.
In June 23 comments, the Clean Air Task Force, the Environmental Working Group, and Friends of the Earth charged that the environmental impact of the RFS meets the Clean Air Act's statutory threshold of severe environmental harm because it increases greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water pollution and decreases habitat and biodiversity.
The environmentalists said the GHG emissions due to RFS would be equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from 397 coal-fired power plants. In addition, the RFS will lead to 100 million tons of soil erosion, and 300,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizer runoff, the activist comments say. The water pollution impacts of the mandate will help boost the oxygen-depleted dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico to a record-setting 10,000 square miles, which could cause permanent changes to the ecosystem in the area, the comments say.
Perry's Aug. 6 comments outline similar concerns about the environmental impacts of the RFS. Citing an analysis by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Perry says the standard's mandate for increased ethanol use could increase emissions in the state of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) -- an ozone precursor -- by 2.3 to 4.6 percent. The standard could also increase emissions in the state of another ozone precursor, nitrogen oxide (NOx), by 1.6 to 7.3 percent, the comments say. Increased use of ethanol could also boost emissions of air toxics, the comments say.
The comments also list potential adverse water impacts of the standard. "Changing agricultural practices to include more biofuel crops can affect water quality as well as water quantity." Corn crops, which are needed for corn-based ethanol, require higher levels of fertilizer and pesticides, which can adversely impact groundwater, rivers and coastal waters, the comments say.
Also, the comments agree with environmentalists that increased nitrogen runoff due to increased fertilizer use could exacerbate the growing dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. "Specifically, an increase in water flowing through the Mississippi River from recent floods, has led to record high levels of discharges. This contamination may well be contributing to this year's increase in the size of the Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone" -- which is an area where no aquatic life can live. This raises the question of whether [the 2007 energy law's renewable fuel] mandates might exacerbate nitrogen levels flowing into the Gulf," the comments say.
While EPA in its wavier decision notice sidesteps many of the environmental issues raised by Perry and activists, the agency's conclusions regarding the standard's potential air quality impacts may blunt some of the governor's arguments.
The agency's models show the RFS could increase emissions of VOCs by 4 to 5 percent and increase emissions of NOx by 5 to 7 percent. These increases could boost ambient ozone levels by an average of 0.057 parts per billion (ppb), with up to 0.153 ppb increase in areas that currently use little ethanol, the notice says.
While EPA's analysis of nationwide air quality impacts does not vary substantially from Texas' analysis, EPA concludes that these changes would have little negative impact on overall air quality. "We have shown through the use of the ozone Response Surface Model that changes in ambient ozone levels are small when moving to these volumes of ethanol-blended gasoline and those slight increases would be smaller when factoring carbon monoxide reductions from increased ethanol use," the notice says.
EPA in the notice also outlines its analysis of the congressional intent behind the waiver and defines key terms that will be relevant to future waiver requests. The agency lays out in the notice the type of analysis it expects to see in future requests. EPA will not grant a waiver request without a public notice and comment period, but the agency may deny a request without notice or comment if "an applicant does not address the relevant issues or does not provide adequate evidence to support their claims," the notice says.
