NMMA continues ethanol fight as EPA fails to comply with reporting requirements
A report released from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Inspector General shows it failed to “meet certain statutory requirements necessary to identify environmental impacts of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).” Because the EPA failed to comply with reporting and analysis requirements, the EPA, congress and other stakeholders lack key information on biofuel impacts needed to make science-based decisions about the RFS.
“The latest report from the EPA is further evidence there is a clear need for the Renewable Fuel Standard to be reformed,” said NMMA President Thom Dammrich. “If the EPA can't comply with reporting and analysis requirements, we can’t expect them to effectively administer such a complex law and be confident that they will have the data to make informed decisions and properly weigh the concerns of the recreational boating industry and other small engine manufacturers.”
Other groups echoed NMMA’s sentiments, taking issue with the EPA’s reporting.
National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Collin O’Mara stated, “We applaud EPA’s Inspector General for finding that the agency has been woefully negligent in tracking and reporting on the environmental impacts associated with the corn ethanol mandate. While we are sympathetic to the vast work EPA has to do despite severe budget cuts, the agency has failed to comply with the law by gathering even the most basic data about the air pollution, wildlife habitat losses, and waterway degradation resulting from this well-intentioned but devastating policy. It is unacceptable that Congress and the American people are being asked to wait another year and a half to receive information that will allow them to understand the magnitude of the wildlife habitat loss and water degradation – which they cannot do unless EPA tracks and reports on these devastating impacts.”
National Council of Chain Restaurants’ Executive Director Rob Green said, “This revelation is the latest in a steady stream of failures associated with the ethanol mandate, and should be a wake-up call to Congress – the time is now to repeal the flawed RFS mandate. Any clear-eyed view of the EPA's performance over the 11-year history of the RFS will recognize that the mandate has always been driven more by political considerations than science, or benefit to the environment or consumers. From documented damage to food commodity production and markets to scientific evidence that clearly shows that corn-based ethanol is bad for the environment, the failures of the RFS are clear and convincing.”
The full report is available here: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-08/documents/_epaoig_20160818-16-p-0275.pdf.