An Environmental Protection Agency proposal would treat ethanol plants the same as corn milling plants for grain when it comes to Clean Air Act standards. According to the EPA announcement, ethanol is produced at corn milling facilities for use as fuel or human consumption. While the processes are similar, these facilities are currently treated differently under Clean Air Act permitting programs. EPA’s proposal would provide equal treatment for corn milling facilities, regardless of whether they produce ethanol for fuel or human consumption. The proposal would establish the same emissions limits under the PSD program – 250 tons per year – regardless of whether the ethanol end product is used for fuel or human consumption
Seems reasonable to me, if they are essentially creating the same product just for different uses – and the idea is to help generate more ethanol production. The proposal led to headlines like this: “EPA proposes allowing ethanol plants to emit more pollution” which is true, but makes it sound kind of sensational unless you read the actual article on the proposal which explains it very well.