Looser EPA Regs Still Require Almost All Ethanol Producers to Get New CO2 Emissions Permits, Just in Time for Blog Action Day

Editor's note: Blog Action Day is a moment when bloggers from all across the world and belief spectrum come together to bring attention to a specific issue. This year, that issue is climate change. At BuzzFlash, we have two special pieces for you today. You're looking at one of them, and you can read the other here. Check out Blog Action Day 2009 online here, and keep reading green!

GREEN IS GOOD
by Margaret Smith

You can make it with corn, wheat, potatoes, sugar beets and molasses. It will help lessen America's dependency on foreign oil. And, best of all, you'll still be able to drive your car in the process.

So what's the problem?

It has become recognized as a major source of greenhouse gases.

At least according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Last week Wednesday, the EPA said that "nearly all" U.S. ethanol production facilities will qualify as "major emitters" of greenhouse gases and be required to obtain Title V permits under new EPA regulations. The proposal, titled the Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule (PSD), adds yet another dimension to the ongoing debate on biofuels and whether or not they should be considered a "green" alternative energy source to gasoline.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that carbon dioxide could be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Now the EPA seems poised to consider greenhouses gases such as carbon dioxide as dangerous pollutant and also do something about it. The new Title V rules raise the cap on allowable emissions of CO2 (as well as gases considered to be equivalent, such as methane, nitrous oxide and other pollutants) from 250 tons per year (tpy) to 25,000 tpy, easing what could become "an administrative burden" on the agency.

For ethanol plants, the new rules mean that 86 facilities out of the 140 listed by the EPA would now qualify as "major" sources of greenhouse gases, or about 60 percent of all facilities. Ethanol Producer Magazine says this number will most likely go up, however, because their most recent list of ethanol facilities puts the number at 183.

The new rule essentially asks facilities that emit the most greenhouse gases to demonstrate that they have used the best available pollution control to curb those emissions. These facilities are also subject to biannual self-compliance reports and permitting fees.

Since the new rule is actually less stringent than the old, the news that almost every ethanol facility will be covered by such regulations must sting for an industry that markets its product as a potential way to produce a green alternative to gasoline. The new regulations are controversial for a number of reasons, and not just because ethanol is the most common biofuel used today.

Under the current regulations, the Clean Air Act requires facilities to obtain construction and operating permits when they emit only 250 tons of harmful pollutants a year. The new PSD rule is effectively limiting the number of facilities the agency has to cover, because according to the EPA, these are not feasible limits for greenhouse gases. The EPA says the new thresholds will help "prevent state and local permitting authorities from processing [Clean Air Act] permits efficiently" by letting smaller emitters who produce 250 to 24,999 tons to operate without a permit.

In total, approximately 14,000 major sources of greenhouse gases would be required to participate under the EPA's new rule. An estimated 400 of these facilities are new, while 13,661 were already required to obtain the necessary permits. The EPA says the new rule will cover nearly 70 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

"Without the tailoring rule, these lower thresholds would take effect automatically for greenhouse gases with the adoption of any EPA rule that controls or limits greenhouse gas emissions," their online fact sheet about the proposed rule says.

According to Greenwire, EPA Air Chief Gina McCarthy was somewhat defensive when she told the EPA's Clean Air Act Advisory Committee that the PSD rule is not about what's being exempted, though, but she said that "we're capturing and the opportunities."

"I make no apologies for the PSD being triggered," she also said. "It's a good thing."

Since then, the rule has come under fire from not only clean air experts but also industry groups, who say that the new regulations target big businesses and that the EPA doesn't have the power to raise the threshold for greenhouse gas emissions. An article from Ethanol Producer Magazine suggests that the new rule constitutes over-regulation suggests the new rules will result in regulation of more facilities than necessary.

The EPA, however, still stands by their decision.

"We made, we think, a very strong legal argument," McCarthy said. "We also made, I think, a very strong common-sense argument on why we would want to have PSD apply to larger facilities, why it makes sense there, why it's not the most appropriate tool for smaller facilities."

GREEN IS GOOD

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