Senator Thune of South Dakota introduces bill to defang EPA on indirect land use change

In Washington, details emerged on a indirect land use bill introduced in the US Senate by John Thune of South Dakota. The proposed legislation would permit biofuel producers to ask for a waiver from EPA emissions rules relating to indirect land use change if the standards  limit or reduce biofuel production. In addition, the rules on indirect land use change could be waived if the environmental rules increase U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the legislation in an entertaining if sarcastic blog post that, in turn, referenced a posting on Grist by Tom Philpott, who had been reporting extensively on controversies over biofuels.

Earlier this week, National Biodiesel Board public affairs head Manning Feraci said that the EISA Act required the EPA to conduct a lifecycle analysis of biofuels as part of the Renewable Fuel Standard’s implementation, but said that “This does not require the EPA to rely on faulty data and unrealistic scenarios that punish the U.S. biodiesel industry for wholly unrelated land use decisions in South America.”

Faraci’s comments came as a flock of biofuels friends and foes descended on the EPA for a day of public hearings. The hearings were part of public outreach on the EPA’s proposed rulemaking for the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Speakers, who were limited to five minutes of comment because of the numbers requesting a hearing, included the CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, Bon Dineen, and representatives from the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the American Petroleum Institute among other stakeholders in the RFS.

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