The Environmental Protection Agency’s public hearing on the proposed rule for the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) is now underway in Washington, DC.

The first testimony presented was from Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen, who expressed the ethanol industry’s major concerns about the agnecy’s attempt to measure greenhouse gas lifecycle analysis including international indirect land use changes. “There is so much uncertainty in trying to account for international impacts that it renders the regulatory process incapable of determining a specific number,” said Dinneen. “We have concerns about some assumptions EPA has made. We think they have greatly underestimated increases in yields, underestimated impact of distillers grains, underestimated or used very conservative assumptions with regard to bushels of grain per acre – all of which will have a significant impact on this analysis.”

Listen to Dinneen’s testimony here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/epa-hearing-dinneen.mp3]

Manning Feraci of the National Biodiesel Board presented testimony at the hearing on behalf of the biodiesel industry. “We recognize that statute requires EPA to consider significant indirect emissions when calculating a renewable fuels emission profile,” said Feraci. “This does not require the EPA to rely on faulty data and unrealistic scenarios that punish the U.S. biodiesel industry for wholly unrelated land use decisions in South America.”

Listen to Feraci’s testimony here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/nbb/epa-hearing-feraci.mp3]

The EPA hearing will continue all day today and then the agency will be holding a workshop on the RFS on Wednesday and Thursday.