TO:

FR:
DA:
RE:

Interested Parties
Jane Kleeb
February 24, 2016
Recent Studies Show Ethanol Significantly Cleaner Than Oil

Environmental champion U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer said in a Senate hearing today
that the RFS is a critical piece of our nations effort to reduce climate pollution.
The Environmental Protection Agencys Acting Assistant Administrator of the Office
of Air and Radiation Janet McCabe pointed to advanced biofuels as an essential
piece of meeting our climate commitments, asserting that cellulosic ethanol is the
lowest carbon fuel in the world and is absolutely critical in meeting the Presidents
carbon reduction goals. These remarks build on commitments made by EPA
Administrator Gina McCarthy a few months ago that the Administration would get
the RFS back on track because it is a vital tool in the fight against climate change.
While the oil industry uses stale and long-disproven talking points in an attempt to
undermine the environmental benefits of ethanol, numerous new studies have
found that a) ethanol is cleaner than oil, b) ethanol is getting increasingly cleaner,
and c) oil is getting dirtier and more damaging.
This evidence has built up over years. A DOE and EPA study from the Argonne
National Laboratory found that ethanol cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 34
percent compared to regular gasolineadvanced biofuels by 108 percent or even
more. And notably, a number of recent studies from just the last year (laid
out below) demonstrate the indisputable fact that ethanol increasingly
benefits our environment. But oilharmful to our environment to begin withis
getting even worse.

Union of Concerned Scientists: Oil is Getting Dirtier, Ethanol is

Getting Cleaner
In a newly released report this month, the Union of Concerned Scientists describes
the progress biofuels and fuel efficiency have made, while pollution from oil
extraction and refining has increased by close to one-third in just the past decade.

That pollution now varies by over five times: from less than 50 kilograms of
carbon emissions per barrel to over 250 kilogramsonly a small part of
gasolines total climate impact.

Even small increases in the emissions of the oil supply chain add up quickly.
Over the course of 2015 to 2035, the addition of just one kilogram of
emissions per barrel of oil per year (a rise of less than 1 percent per year, and
much slower than what we have seen in the last decade) would increase
cumulative emissions from oil production and refining by approximately one
billion tonsroughly the tailpipe emissions of all of the gasoline-powered
vehicles in the United States in 2014.

On the other hand, ethanol blended into gasoline today is about 20 percent
cleaner than gasoline.

Life Cycle Associates: Biofuels Use Causes Major Cuts in GHG

Emissions
In November 2015, Life Cycle Associates found significant reductions in greenhouse
gas emissions due to the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The RFS has resulted in cumulative GHG emissions reductions of 354 million
metric tons over a decade.

That amount is equivalent to emissions from 1.9 million railcars of coal

burned, 74 million passenger cars, or equivalent to the carbon sequestration
of close to 300 million acres of forest on a yearly basis.

The study also found that corn ethanol reduced emissions by 29 percent on
average in comparison to petroleum in 2008. And by 2015, that reduction
grew to 39 percent.

University of Montana Finds Increasing Land Degradation from

Fossil Fuels
An April 2015 study from the University of Montana concluded that fossil fuels, and
the means to obtain them, are devastating our environment, threatening our land
and ecosystem at an alarming rate.

Increased oil and gas extraction from 2000 to 2013 caused 7.4 million acres
of lost land.

That amount is the equivalent of three Yellowstone National Parks, or a loss of

120 million bushels of wheat.

USDA Report Finds Less Energy Used to Produce More Corn Ethanol
Findings from a study released by the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) in February 2016, show that the production of ethanol now uses less energy
than it produces, in a substantial net energy gain.

Nitrogen and direct energy use for fuel and electricity, the largest energy
components of corn production, both declined since the mid-1990swith
nitrogen decreasing by 20 percent and direct energy decreasing by 50
percent.

These decreases have come as ethanol yields have upped by 10 percent in

the same time period.

Biotechnology Innovation Organization Finds RFS Responsible for

Drastically Cutting GHGs
In June 2015, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization examined greenhouse gas
emissions reductions during the 10 years under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

In the 10 years of its existence, the RFS has cut transportation-related

greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by nearly 590 million metric tonsthe
equivalent of taking over 124 million cars off the road in the course of the
decade.