Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) this week reintroduced the Adopt GREET Act which would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update its greenhouse gas modeling for ethanol and biodiesel.

Specifically, the bill would require EPA to adopt the Argonne National Lab’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) Model for both fuels. EPA would then be required to update its modeling every five years or report to Congress to affirm its modeling is current or otherwise explain why no updates were made.

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings says the legislation would more accurately account for corn ethanol’s carbon intensity when establishing regulations which could impact ethanol use in the future. “The U.S. Department of Energy GREET model, which is widely-recognized as the gold standard tool for determining the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of transportation fuels, indicates that corn ethanol reduces greenhouse gases by 50 percent compared to gasoline,” said Jennings. “Unfortunately, EPA has disregarded this latest lifecycle science and continues to cling to a flawed and outdated model which shows corn ethanol is only 20 percent cleaner than gasoline.”

The Adopt GREET Act was cosponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Mike Rounds (R-SD).