Renewable-fuel mandate ruling leaves no one happy: the best compromise?

Non-ethanol gasoline pumpAs they say, the best compromise is usually the one that leaves all parties equally dissatisfied. When it comes to the Environmental Protection Agency's renewable-fuel mandate, it seems regulators have reached equilibrium. The latest skirmish in the long-running battle over the U.S. renewable-fuel standard appears to have been settled, at least...

Trump EPA: less enforcement of laws, more leeway for polluters

Donald TrumpIn grade school, students commonly ran through the halls when teachers or other school staff weren't looking. Signs forbidding the act of sprinting past lockers did little to deter the practice, since there was no incentive not to run unless someone present was enforcing the rule. The same can be said for industrial polluters and environmental-law...

Proposed ethanol cuts bring EPA up against Iowa’s powerful politician

Big square baler harvesting wheat straw for production of cellulosic ethanolFollowing years of debate, the EPA said earlier this month it will study the possibilities of cutting the amount of ethanol in the United States' gasoline supply. Since 2007, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has required growing amounts of ethanol to be blended into U.S. fuel supplies, with E10—a mix of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent...

EPA to roll back Obama-era greenhouse gas policies on coal power plants

Coal trains by Flickr user Kimon Berlin (Used under CC License)EPA head Scott Pruitt told miners in Kentucky on Monday that he intends to begin dismantling former President Barack Obama's signature climate-change agenda effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions from coal power plants. Standing alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Pruitt told reporters at an event in Hazard, Ky., that, "The...

Head of EPA ignores environmental groups, meets only with corporations

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt  [photo from 2014]Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has had a very busy schedule since being confirmed to lead the agency set up to protect America's air, water, and land from pollution. Unlike his predecessors, Pruitt—a climate-science denier and aggressive advocate of fossil fuels—has largely ignored environmental groups and...

EPA to study cutting amount of ethanol in U.S. gasoline

FlexFuel badge on E85-capable 2009 Chevrolet HHRSince 2007, the Renewable Fuel Standard has required increasing levels of ethanol in gasoline blends sold in the U.S. Most fuel stations across the United States no longer offer pure gasoline, with E10—a blend of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline—prevailing. After years of debate, the EPA has now announced it will study the...