A basic question emerged once the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee began to examine the federal Renewable Fuels Standard on Feb. 24: Is the program an impractical failure, or should its mandates be preserved?
As committee members questioned witnesses, however, a second issue slowly appeared. Most Republicans said the program should be either overhauled or repealed. Democrats and a few Republicans from heavily agricultural states argued that mandates established in 2007 still can be good mechanisms to stimulate more domestic alternative and renewable motor fuels development.
One witness, Janet McCabe, the US Environmental Protection Agency's acting assistant administrator for air and radiation, was squarely in the middle. RFS advocates and critics alike basically told her the agency was doing a bad job implementing the program's mandates.
"Most of the rational originally justifying the RFS has disappeared," said Committee Chairman James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.). "All we have left is an unstable program rooted in EPA's waiving entire portions of annual requirements, allowing imported soybeans and ethanol from South America to count towards the RFS, and regularly missing implementation deadlines."
Ranking Minority Member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) conceded, "The implementation of the RFS has not been perfect, but the law is sound. Legislative changes in the RFS are not needed, and I will do everything in my power to stop any legislation to change or modify this landmark law."
During his opening statement, Inhofe displayed a large photo of an Oklahoma retail outlet prominently promoting ethanol-free gasoline, and said such establishments were becoming more common in the Sooner State. Others countered that the number of retailers offering higher levels of ethanol continues to grow.
Ethanol's secure niche
Two other witnesses-Howard Gruenspecht, the US Energy Information Administration's deputy administration, and Lucian Pugliaresi, president of Energy Policy Research Foundation Inc.-said ethanol's niche as 10% of modern gasoline blends is secure because it economically adds octane and stretches volumes.
McCabe said US biofuel use has jumped in the last decade, especially for ethanol and biodiesel. There also have been vital developments in production of advanced renewable fuels, including cellulosic biofuels. "This is encouraging, because cellulosic biofuels are the fuels that have the lowest greenhouse gas emissions," she said.
Committee member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said the 2007 mandates have been underused and inefficiently applied. He told McCabe that biofuel entrepreneurs in his home state were looking into moss as a potential biofuel.
She responded that if research showed it could be economically developed, EPA might to consider the idea. "Not all cities are as blessed with moss as Portland," she said.