EPA Official Wrong on Ethanol and Biodiesel Yields
A YouTube video of EPA official Margo Oge testifying before a House panel in May reveals her providing radically incorrect information about the amount of corn and soybeans it takes to make biofuels.
The blunder occurred when Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) asked Ms. Oge, who is responsible for regulating all emissions within the United States, about the indirect land use issue. “It’s my understanding that the EPA’s Renewable Fuels Standard 2 methodology assumes that for every acre of soybean crop that is used to produce biofuel, an equal acre of ground is used in the Brazilian rainforest to replace that acreage, is that correct?” asked Schock.
“Obviously we know that it takes about 64 acres for a gallon of soy biodiesel,” she begins, and then corrects herself, even more incorrectly. “It’s actually the opposite. It takes 64 acres for corn ethanol and over 400 acres for a gallon of biodiesel.”
Actually, one acre of soybeans makes 64 gallons of biodiesel and one acre of corn makes over 400 gallons of ethanol. This may have been just a simple mistake – or maybe she really doesn’t know – but it is now possible that members of the U.S. House Small Business Committee believe that it takes a huge amount of corn and soybeans to produce biofuels because that is what she told them.
The YouTube video with commentary was posted anonymously by an account called “FreedomIs1st” and no one in the biofuels industry has taken credit for it – but it is very good and should be shared. In fact, it might be good for people in the industry to write to their congressional representatives, especially if they are on the House Small Business committee, to make sure they have the facts.
3 Comments »
Aureon Kwolek
Is EPA official Margo Oge, being puppetted by her controllers? Why is the EPA making false claims embodied in an unproven theory called “indirect land use change”? A theory that was introduced by an attorney, not by a scientist or a qualified researcher. Oge is obviously NOT QUALIFIED for her role. Someone must be telling her what to say, because she doesn’t even understand basic biofuel facts. Is she a pawn in a rogue EPA agenda to distort climate change in order to restrict biofuels?
A related story just hit the news: “Suppressed EPA scientist breaks silence, speaks on Fox News”, by Mark Tapscott (Fox News):
Having worked at the EPA for 38 years, expert senior research analyst, Alan Carlin wrote an in-house report criticizing EPA’s stance on Global Warming. Carlin’s report was suppressed by EPA officials, who also instructed him to remain silent and not to talk to the press.
Carlin went ahead and broke his silence anyway. According to Fox News, what Carlin’s report exposed was that the EPA has been riding the coattails of the UN’s manipulated and premature conclusions regarding global warming and indirect land use change theory.
American taxpayers, are paying the salaries of EPA officials. Do we want our domestic biofuel industry to be restricted by the hidden agenda of UN policy that favors big oil? Or do we want our EPA to conduct balanced scientific research and draw its own conclusions – based on FACTUAL INFORMATION?
Rep. Collin Peterson, Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee, recently accused the EPA with “being in bed with the oil industry”. One thing is for sure – the EPA is playing games and twisting information.
This looks bad for President Obama. On the one hand, he’s telling farmers and biofuel producers that the biofuels industry is important, and on the other hand, he’s allowing the EPA to impose restrictions based on unscientific false assumptions and grossly inaccurate information.
Rebecca Richardson
Aureon, you make great points. I watched the YouTube videos just after the Small Business Committee hearing and could not believe my ears! If the EPA isn’t careful, they are going to cause the biofuel industry to disappear because of their lack of supportive action and their inexplicable determination to make the RFS2 implementation process far more onerous on the biofuel industry than on the petroleum industry which has always been the intent of the initiative. Does this irony escape us?
Grassley Hosting EPA Visit in Iowa « The Sugarcane Blog
[...] could have “on agriculture and family farmers.” The two EPA officials, Gina McCarthy and Margo Oge, will be in the state Sept. 3. They’ll get a briefing on an “information session” on corn and [...]
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