The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a rule based on Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) that would penalize biofuel production such as corn-ethanol. The ethanol industry has banned together to fight this potential ruling, and today Growth Energy urged Congressional support of an amendment authored by Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

Specifically, the Harkin amendment to the Interior-Environment Appropriations bill, would prohibit the use of funds by the EPA to include international ILUC theories in the implementation of the renewable fuel program. This in hopes to spur a full debate in the Congress on ILUC theory. EPA is forging ahead with the rules even though sound science on the topic is lacking, nor an agreed upon way to even measure ILUC impacts.

“If the EPA goes ahead with this lopsided rule, it will penalize domestic production of biofuels like ethanol. And U.S.-made ethanol is the only existing alternative we have to foreign oil. It creates jobs, enhances our national and economic security, and cuts greenhouses gases. Senator Harkin’s amendment deserves to be passed by the Congress. Senator Harkin’s legislation is rooted in logic and fact – two things that are lacking from the EPA’s proposed rule,” said Tom Buis, Chief Executive Officer of Growth Energy.

According to Growth Energy, ILUC theory has never been debated in the Congress, and it’s not accepted as a consensus of the scientific community. “If we’re going to theorize the indirect land use changes of fuel, the EPA should not single out biofuels – but should include the sources of all transportation fuels, including emissions from coal-fired power plants for plug-in cars, Persian Gulf oil tankers and tar-sand extraction,” said Buis.