EPA official “who never visited a US farm” to join Sen Grassley in farm, biodiesel plant tour
In Iowa, EPA officials Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation, and Margo Oge, director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality, will come to Iowa for a first-hand look at family farming.
The visit to Iowa by the EPA was prompted by an article in Biofuels Digest last May, in which Senator Grassley made the invitation to the EPA. The EPA subsequently communicated that “They would like to try and work something out”.
The visit will be hosted by Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, who commented “On Thursday, I’m hosting top officials from the EPA in Iowa so they can get a first-hand look at a family farm. The EPA has tremendous power and authority over issues that will have a major impact on the rural economy. I want to make sure those making the decisions have a clear understanding of the impact of their rules and regulations. I learned that some of these people who head these agencies don’t understand farming, and I think it’s very important that, when you’re making regulations like this, that you ought to have a closer look at American agriculture. And the best place to do that’s in Iowa.”
Following the tour of the Kimberly Family Farms near Maxwell, and then the group plans to visit an REG biodiesel plant at Newton from 2-3pm with press availability at 3pm.
The Digest thanks and commends both the EPA and Senator Grassley for helping to increase familiarity and awareness of farming processes and improvements among regulators of farm emissions.
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Background on the visit
Readers of the Digest will remember last May, we ran an exclusive interview with Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa in which the Senator invited the Director of the EPA’s office of Transportation and Air Quality, Margo Oge, to visit his farm in Iowa.
The invitation came after it was revealed in House testimony that Ms. Oge had not visited a US farm in the 41 years since she had arrived in the US, something that became relevant when her office was assigned the responsibility by former EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson of measuring direct and indirect emissions from biofuels as required by the 2007 Energy Security and Independence Act.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Regina McCarthy, nominated as assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation were also invited.
The story that ran in May examined the larger question of a growing communications gap between farm and city, and suggested, in line with EPA-funded research demonstrating that “place-based education” has an impact on attitudes towards the environment, that a greater engagement between regulators and farms was a first and important step towards a national consensus on biofuels policies.
No one can say how one day on a farm will impact EPA’s view on indirect land use change, and the proposed elimination of soy biodiesel as an permissable fuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard (because of the controversial contention that soy biodiesel leads to Amazonian deforestation).
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