The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency says a proposed rule change regarding ethanol plant emissions is a matter of consistency, not favoritism.

When asked about the expected rule change during a press conference announcing the administration’s new Renewable Fuels Standard, administrator Stephen L. Johnson responded, “If you are using corn to produce alcohol for human consumption, you are under one air standard. If you are producing alcohol to be used as a fuel, there’s a different standard,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense. There should be a level playing field, a consistent approach, that is health protective and environmentally protective. And that’s what we are in the rule-making process of doing right now.”

A St. Louis Post-Dispatch story this week headlined that the new rule “would allow plants to pollute more.” Shorter versions of the lengthy article, which gave the EPA reasons for the proposed change, included only the first few paragraphs, indicating that the rule change is politically motivated and would lead to more air pollution.