Urban Air Initiative files petition against EPA ethanol model

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) announced that the Urban Air Initiative has filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in regard to ethanol emissions regulation models.

Initiative representatives say erroneous information is preventing the wider adoption of ethanol fuel, specifically from campaigns of what the report calls "misinformation" from large oil companies and the EPA's Motor Fuel Emission Simulator. The initiative's petition says blending ethanol and traditional gasoline improves public health by reducing automobile emissions.

“Many Americans are not aware of the very real and dangerous consequences of our dependence on foreign oil,” Michigan farmer and NCGA Ethanol Committee Chairman Jeff Sandborn said. “Much of the time the focus has been on jobs and ethanol’s economic contributions, but increasingly the urban public is looking at the dangers related to the pollutants in gasoline. Ethanol reduces carbon and these toxic compounds while providing the higher octane modern engines need.”

The petition also says the EPA's model uses optimal conditions that do not reflect real life, and that conclusions based on this can be misleading or incorrect. They cite other studies stating that ethanol reduces emissions, contrary to the EPA's findings.