WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
joined Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in
urging
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update its greenhouse gas (GHG)
modeling for biofuels and adopt the Argonne National Lab’s Greenhouse Gases,
Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model. These
long-overdue updates would permit consistent comparison between petroleum-based
fuels, natural gas systems, electric generation and renewable fuels.
“We ask that EPA utilize the GREET Model
as the baseline GHG determination for biofuels so that stakeholders may have
the opportunity to readily compare the GHG intensity of competing energy
sources and policymakers may have a fuller picture of how to decarbonize the energy
and transportation sectors,” the
senators wrote. “The GREET Model has been among the most widely utilized
sources of GHG data, underpinning research that finds corn ethanol can
currently achieve 46 percent lower lifecycle carbon intensity than gasoline.
This environmental benefit will only increase as biorefining and fuel
technologies improve, the agriculture sector advances operational efficiencies
and produces higher yields of renewable feedstock per acre, and as biofuel
operations are paired with carbon capture projects.”
The letter was also signed by Sens.
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Joni
Ernst (R-Iowa), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).
Last year, Grassley also joined Thune and
Klobuchar to introduce the
Adopt
Greet Act, which would
require the EPA to update its greenhouse gas modeling for ethanol and
biodiesel. Their bill would hold EPA accountable by requiring it to update its
modeling every five years or report to Congress to affirm its modeling is
current or otherwise explain why no updates were made.
Read the full letter by clicking
HERE.
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