Last week, the Environmental Working Group released a study blaming corn based ethanol for carbon emissions and having a negative impact on the environment. E-W-G supports EPA’s proposal now under consideration to cut the corn ethanol mandate by 1.4 billion gallons. Study author Emily Cassidy, Biofuels Research Analyst with E-W-G says emissions of corn ethanol is higher than gasoline.
Cassidy says statistics show corn ethanol having a positive effect down the road but past data shows a negative impact.
Ethanol officials say USDA figures shows farm acreage dropped by nearly eight million acres from 2007 to 2012. Cassidy says looking at that total doesn’t explain what’s happening to the environment.
Cassidy says if EPA gives the go ahead to their proposal to drop the corn ethanol mandate it will have the equivalent of taking 580,000 cars off the road annually as far as carbon emissions go.