(September 15, 2010) Washington – The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) joined together to submit comments Tuesday to the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) regarding proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) emission amendments to the Iowa Administrative Code. Both groups urge the EPC to delay consideration on decisions that would increase the regulatory burden faced by Iowa’s biofuel producers at a time when companies of all types are reeling from an economic slowdown and great uncertainty at the federal level regarding similar GHG regulations. The groups also argued that rushing to adopt the rules in Iowa may ultimately put the state at odds with federal regulations that are being challenged in the courts. All of this has the impact of chilling biofuels investment, innovation, and job-creation.

“In addition to substantially increasing the regulatory burden faced by the state’s biofuel producers, we are concerned that amendments by the EPC may result in Iowa implementing more stringent regulatory requirements than may ultimately be required by the federal regulation with which the state is seeking to harmonize. As such, we are urging the EPC to delay consideration of the proposed amendments until such time that there is more certainty surrounding federal regulatory actions intended to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Alternatively, and at the very least, EPC should add certain provisions to its amendments that would nullify regulatory actions based on federal rules that may ultimately be stayed or deemed invalid by a court,” states the comment letter.

The RFA and IRFA go on to point out that numerous legal challenges have been filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulatory proposals regarding GHG and stationary sources including a motion to stay any further EPA action on this front.

“Given these pending legal challenges, the state of Iowa should not adopt proposed changes to the state law and revision to its Clean Air Act Implementation Plan that could ultimately make its regulations more stringent than federal regulations. This is precisely what would occur should the EPA Tailoring Rule be stayed or ultimately invalidated.”

Another factor which further renders the EPC consideration premature is that EPA’s Tailoring Rule, the regulation with which Iowa is attempting to harmonize, failed to exclude biogenic emissions of CO2. EPA is presently considering how to address this omission and RFA filed comments Monday urging the agency to continue its established practice of excluding biogenic emissions from GHG inventories and other regulatory actions. If Iowa were to include EPA's existing language in its proposed amendments it would conflict with longstanding accounting practices used by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which acknowledge the carbon neutrality of biogenic emissions from biofuels production.

If the Iowa EPC is unwilling to delay while federal GHG policies are determined, then the commission is encouraged to include provisions that would nullify state policies when the federal Tailoring Rule is stayed or deemed invalid.

Click here to read the comment letter in full.