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Pushing back against EPA’s emissions rule

Corn farmers are pushing back against EPA’s recent tailpipe emissions rule for cars and trucks.

Several state corn associations, along with some biofules groups have filed a petition to challenge the EPA’s attempt to mandate a single technology to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions.  

Matt Frostic a farmer on the board of the Michigan Corn Growers Association says electric vehicles aren’t the only option.  “When we take a biofuel like ethanol, we can sequester the carbon by growing the product,” he says.  “And then as we burn it through a vehicle, when you take that whole life cycle, it actually is very competitive against any other type of energy.”

AUDIO: Matt Frostic, Michigan Corn Growers Association

Indiana farmer JR Roesner, a member of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, tells Brownfield biofuels cannot be discounted.  “While the push is toward electric vehicles, we’re not going to get anywhere near those targets in the short-term,” he says.  “Ethanol role is going to have to play a vital role in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions in the near-term.”

AUDIO: JR Roesner, Indiana Corn Marketing Council

In the petition, corn and ethanol groups have asked the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to set aside EPA’s final GHG standards for passenger cars and light trucks.  In the petition, the groups say the policies are written to exclude any technologies other than electric, and would stifle the innovation that could create real sustainable change for the future.