November, 16 2012, 03:39pm EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Michal Rosenoer, biofuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth, at 415-359-7309
EPA Prioritizes Ethanol Industry Above Struggling Citizens; Refuses to Waive Biofuels Mandate
WASHINGTON
Today the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced its decision to uphold the corn ethanol requirement of the Renewable Fuel Standard -- the federal biofuels mandate -- despite calls from eight states and nearly 200 members of Congress to waive the mandate to relieve pressure on food prices. In August of this year, the governors of North Carolina and Arkansas requested that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson waive the corn ethanol mandate to free up drought-damaged corn yields for food and animal feed. Their waiver requests were echoed in similar petitions and letters to the EPA from six other states, 26 Senators and 156 members of Congress.
In 2011, almost half the corn grown in the U.S. was diverted to ethanol production to meet the RFS. This year the RFS requires the use of 13.2 billion gallons of corn ethanol, the production of which could require using more than half the country's corn crop. The 2012 U.S. corn yield is expected to fall nearly a billion bushels short of 2011's yields due to the worst drought in the U.S. in more than 50 years.
Michal Rosenoer, biofuels policy campaigner at Friends of the Earth, had the following to say about the EPA decision:
"If the worst U.S. drought in more than 50 years and skyrocketing food prices are not enough to make EPA act, it falls to Congress to provide relief from our senseless federal support for corn ethanol. The RFS is a broken policy -- rather than giving us clean energy, it's incentivizing biofuels like corn ethanol that are exacerbating our economic and environmental problems.
"Congress needs to cut corn ethanol from the RFS entirely to protect the economy and the environment from this destructive and dirty fuel."
For more information:
- Renewable Fuel Standard policy brief: https://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/93/72/c/2270/Issue_Brief_RFS_101.pdf
- EPA's RFS notices page, with links to petitions from North Carolina and Arkansas: https://www.epa.gov/oms/fuels/renewablefuels/notices.htm
- Letter to Lisa Jackson from 156 members of Congress requesting a waiver of the RFS: https://ntuf.memberclicks.net/assets/documents/PublicRelations/house%20letter%20final.pdf
- Letters to Lisa Jackson from 26 Senators requesting waivers of the RFS: https://www.foe.org/news/blog/2012-08-25-senators-ask-epa-to-reduce-the-corn-ethanol-manda
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
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'Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter' Denounced as Greenwashing Scheme by Fossil Fuel Arsonists
"Voluntary pledges cannot be a substitute for a formal negotiated outcome at COP28 for countries to address the root cause of the climate crisis: fossil fuels."
Dec 02, 2023
Hundreds of civil society groups and frontline voices from around the world on Saturday condemned a voluntary pledge heralded by government leaders and fossil fuel giants, calling the "Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter" unveiled at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai nothing but a cynical industry-backed smokescreen and greenwashing ploy that will allow for the continuation of massive emissions of carbon, methane, and other greenhouse gases.
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An open letter released by 320 groups on Saturday accuses Sultan al-Jaber, president of COP28 and the chief executive of the host nation's national oil company, of missing a "historic opportunity" by allowing the pledge to grandstand as meaningful progress while the planet experiences its hottest year in 125,000 years.
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Citing recent findings from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Climate and Clear Air Coalition released in October, the letter states that the only way to meet the 1.5ºC target established by the 2015 Paris agreement is to phase out fossil fuels completely—and rapidly.
"Cutting methane pollution from the oil and gas supply chain is an important component of near-term emissions reductions—but it is not enough on its own," the letter states.
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"If your company digs stuff up and burns it, you’re the problem. It’s time to wind down your business."
"Bundling up the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter with a renewable energy commitment appears to be a calculated move to distract from the weakness of this industry pledge," Tong said.
"Promising to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency is welcome and indicates momentum for a final agreement at this year's U.N. climate talks," he added, "but voluntary pledges cannot be a substitute for a formal negotiated outcome at COP28 for countries to address the root cause of the climate crisis: fossil fuels."
Journalist and veteran climate organizer Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org and now Third Act, said it "isn't hard" to know what needs to be done or to identify who is at fault for the current crisis.
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The green critics of the Charter are clear that the chief culprits should have little say in the way governments and society at large choose to manage the transition from a dirty energy economy to a more sustainable and clean one.
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Under Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide—the first human rights treaty unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly—genocide is defined as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group":
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