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The
Environmental Protection Agency said it is raising the 2008
Renewable Fuels Standard for ethanol use to 7.76 percent
of the nation's gas supply — from about 4.6 percent estimated
in November — to comply with new legislation that requires
9 billion gallons of ethanol production this year.
In a notice published in the Federal Register, the EPA recalculated
the standard using updated data on the volume of gasoline
projected to be consumed in 2008.
An estimated 6.5 billion gallons of ethanol were used in
2007.
The Energy Independence and Security Act 2007 was passed
into law in December, mandating at least 36 billion gallons
of biofuel to be used nationwide by 2022 and allowing up
to 15 billion gallons of that fuel annually to come from
corn-based ethanol. (See Bush
signs renewable fuels bill on Meatingplace.com
, December 2o, 2007.)
While ethanol from non-corn inputs is expected to reach
3 billion gallons in 2016 and rise to 21 billion gallons
by 2022, nearly all the biofuel in 2008 is expected to come
from corn-based ethanol.
Meat industry groups have voiced concern the legislation
will continue to pit food against fuel, raising already
high feedgrain costs for animal agriculture.
The American Meat Institute said the new mandate will require
the corn produced from more than 22 million acres.
U.S. farmers planted about 90 million acres of corn in 2007,
but that acreage is expected to shrink in 2008 due to competition
for soybean and wheat acres. |
