{"id":76793,"date":"2020-08-07T06:54:59","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T04:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rss.nova-institut.net\/public.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiomassmagazine.com%2Farticles%2F17200%2Fletter-urges-epa-to-address-carbon-neutrality-of-crops"},"modified":"2020-08-03T20:00:35","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T18:00:35","slug":"agriculture-leaders-urge-epa-to-allow-public-comment-on-co2-emissions-from-annual-crops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/agriculture-leaders-urge-epa-to-allow-public-comment-on-co2-emissions-from-annual-crops\/","title":{"rendered":"Agriculture Leaders Urge EPA To Allow Public Comment on CO2<\/sub> Emissions from Annual Crops"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is being pressed by the Biogenic CO2 Coalition to invite public comments on clearing a major roadblock to the bioeconomy, a driver of rural economic growth. The Biogenic CO2<\/sub> Coalition, composed of leading food and agriculture trade associations, today wrote to EPA Administrator Wheeler urging him to solicit public comment on regulation of biogenic CO2<\/sub> emissions from annual crops when the Agency proposes an overdue rule on regulation of carbon emissions from woody biomass.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Inside EPA and other media outlets have reported in recent weeks, the EPA is soon expected to advance a rule addressing biogenic carbon emissions from woody biomass. A recent letter to Congress from 20 leading scientists asserted that it is imperative that EPA act swiftly to adopt a rule that recognizes the\u00a0de minimis\u00a0character of biogenic carbon emissions from the processing of annual agricultural crops.<\/p>\n

In recent testimony before the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, EPA Administrator Wheeler said that\u00a0the agency plans to wait another year or more to clarify the\u00a0de minimis\u00a0character of biogenic carbon emissions from the processing of annual agricultural crops.\u00a0 This, despite the fact that for over a decade this\u00a0regulatory glitch has been hurting farmers and agribusinesses, severely limiting advancements in the bioeconomy.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0a new letter<\/a>\u00a0to the EPA, the Coalition urged the EPA to reconsider, writing, \u201cThe science is clear that, like woody biomass, annual agricultural crops are not a net source of carbon emissions\u2026The Department of Agriculture, the IPCC, and various researchers have each recognized that the carbon sequestered by growing agricultural crops cancels out or even outweighs the carbon emitted when those crops are processed.\u00a0 And EPA has recognized the same in other regulatory programs that rely on the GREET model.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of that scientific consensus, the Biogenic CO2 <\/sub>Coalition respectfully urges EPA to request comment in the preamble to its pending proposed rule on whether to find that biogenic emissions from processing annual agricultural crops at stationary sources are carbon neutral or a de minimis source of carbon.\u00a0 We also urge EPA to request comment on whether facilities that process annual agricultural crops should therefore be exempt from implementing BACT and other requirements of the PSD and Title V programs for the greenhouse gasses emitted from the processing of annual crops,\u201d the Coalition continued.<\/p>\n

In a separate statement today commenting on the Coalition\u2019s letter, John Bode, President & CEO of the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) said,\u00a0\u201cPresident Trump should be commended for his commitment to deregulatory actions to spur investment and create jobs.\u00a0 Requesting public comments on this policy is an immediate step that EPA could take to respond to the President\u2019s directive.\u00a0 American agriculture and related industries are in terrible pain.\u00a0 Removing this regulatory roadblock would unleash\u00a0millions in investment in new technology, rural development, and infrastructure.\u00a0\u00a0The time to start this process is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Coalition noted\u00a0in a recently released digital video ad<\/a>, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) observed at this same hearing that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in countless \u201cjobs\u00a0lost and lives upended across Iowa and throughout rural America.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Senator Ernst was among 16 Senators from both parties who sent\u00a0a bipartisan letter<\/a>\u00a0to the EPA last year\u00a0calling on the agency to provide clarity on the regulatory treatment of biogenic carbon emissions produced from feedstocks such as corn and soybeans.\u00a0This letter echoed earlier calls by five Governors who\u00a0wrote their own letter<\/a>\u00a0to the EPA urging action on this issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is being pressed by the Biogenic CO2 Coalition to invite public comments on clearing a major roadblock to the bioeconomy, a driver of rural economic growth. The Biogenic CO2 Coalition, composed of leading food and agriculture trade associations, today wrote to EPA Administrator Wheeler urging him to solicit public comment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[12746,1214],"class_list":["post-76793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","supplier-biogenic-co2-coalition","supplier-united-states-environmental-protection-agency-epa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76793\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76793"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=76793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}