In a report titled “Ethanol’s Broken Promise,” the Environmental Working Group says the scaled-back ethanol mandate proposed by EPA “would lower U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 3 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2e) – as much as taking 580,000 cars off the road for a year.” EWG says its figures take into account the effect of bringing more land into crop production.
EPA aims to announce the new target in June. There is speculation the reduction will be higher than initially proposed. As of Wednesday evening, the agency had yet to submit its proposed regulation to the White House for review, a near-final step before public release.