The Renewable Fuels Association supports for the EPA’s proposal to determine that no additional measures are necessary to mitigate “potential adverse air quality impacts” associated with the Renewable Fuel Standard. At the same time, RFA’s comments on the Proposed Anti-Backsliding Determination for Renewable Fuels and Air Quality challenged the flawed air quality modeling and analysis conducted by EPA to inform the proposed determination.
“We agree that no additional ‘fuel control measures’ are necessary, but we reach this conclusion for a different reason than EPA,” wrote RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “We believe no additional measures are necessary because the scientific evidence demonstrates that increasing the concentration of ethanol in gasoline generally improves air quality and does not cause ‘adverse air quality impacts.’”
Earlier this year, EPA completed an “anti-backsliding study” to determine whether the RFS would adversely impact air quality. After considering the results of the study, the Clean Air Act requires EPA to either promulgate new regulations to mitigate any adverse impacts on air quality or to determine that no such measures are necessary.