The Renewable Fuel Standard, which guarantees biofuels such as corn ethanol a share of the gasoline market, has prompted farmers to plow under wildlife habitat and has contributed to agricultural runoff, said the National Wildlife Federation, a conservation group, on Thursday. NWF president Collin O’Mara said the EPA should use an upcoming regulatory “reset” to reduce the ethanol mandate, created in 2007.
The EPA has repeatedly lowered the targets for use of cleaner-burning “advanced” biofuels and announced last fall that it would propose new goals for cellulosic, advanced, and overall biofuel use for 2020, 2021, and 2022.
“They should be adjusted downward,” said O’Mara, referring to corn ethanol during a teleconference on research into the effects of the RFS. Researchers said that the RFS had driven up commodity prices; prompted farmers to plant millions of additional acres of corn, including on 1.6 million acres of converted grasslands, forests, and wetlands; and meant a larger release of greenhouse gases and more runoff because of higher fertilizer use. The expansion in cropland was greatest in the Dakotas, Iowa, and Missouri, said Nathan Hendricks of Kansas State University, one of the researchers.
So-called land use change is a frequent and contentious topic for biofuels. A study appearing in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics in February said there was little overall change in U.S. crop acreage in the years following enactment of the RFS.