Panel gives mixed review to U.S. biofuel rules

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did a reasonable job in estimating the U.S. biofuel industry’s role in causing greenhouse gas emissions overseas, but some of the work was problematic, a scientific review panel concluded on Friday.

EPA ordered the independent review in May, when it proposed regulations for expansion of U.S. biofuel output. They would require biofuels to show an overall reduction in greenhouse gases, including land that may be converted to crops overseas.

The four scientists who examined EPA’s models of U.S. and international land use agreed EPA’s use of elements of two land-use models was reasonable and preferable to using a single, global model, said EPA in a summary of the review.

The scientists said the global model did not produce data with sufficient detail. On the other hand, they suggested ways to improve the models that EPA used in part, such as more attention to U.S. forests as a source of new cropland.

Reuters