In March, BG&A submitted a report to the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General on behalf of the Energy Future Coalition and Urban Air Initiative detailing EPA’s failure to update the Agency’s science on the environmental effects of biofuels.
In an audit report published on August 18, 2016, the Inspector General agreed with BG&A that EPA had failed to meet its legal requirement to report to Congress every three years, and its legal requirement to perform a comprehensive study on the environmental effects of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Consistent with BG&A’s report, the Inspector General also found that EPA had failed to follow through on its own commitment to update its 2010 lifecycle analysis for corn ethanol. The Inspector General noted that EPA has no plans to do so.
BG&A’s report to the IG and other recent submissions shows that EPA’s 2010 lifecycle analysis and 2011 Report to Congress have been outdated by a growing body of scientific data on ethanol’s emissions reduction benefits. New science shows that corn ethanol is significantly cleaner than EPA predicted in 2010, and gasoline is significantly dirtier. As a result, blending ethanol into gasoline has reduced emissions of greenhouse gases and other toxic pollutants.
Following the Inspector General’s audit, EPA agreed to submit its overdue Report to Congress by the end of 2017.