Written by Dana Drugmand. First published in New Lede
Hazardous air pollutants released from biofuel production are almost as bad as air pollution from oil refineries, and for several types of hazardous pollutants such as formaldehyde emissions from biofuel production are much greater, a new report finds.
The study, conducted by researchers at the environmental watchdog group, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), looked at emissions from 275 ethanol, biodiesel and renewable diesel plants in the United States. Researchers have found that facilities often violate air pollution permits while at the same time benefiting from legal exemptions and federal policy support such as fuel blending mandates.
As the biofuels industry continues to grow with more than 30 new facilities under construction or proposed, the industry should be seen as a threat to public health, the report warns. Stronger regulatory oversight from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is needed, according to the EIP.
“Despite its green image, the biofuels industry releases an incredible amount of dangerous air pollution that endangers local communities – and this problem is exacerbated by lax regulation of the EPA” Courtney Bernhardt, research director of the EIP, in a statement.
According to an EIP report released Wednesday, the production of biofuels produced 12.9 million pounds of harmful air pollution by 2022. That compares to 14.5 million pounds of hazardous air pollutants released by oil refineries that year, according to data from the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory.
(Source: Environmental Integrity Project report)
Emissions from biofuel factories were higher than oil refineries for four types of harmful pollutants – formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, and hexane, according to the EIP report. In 2022, biofuel facilities reported emissions of approximately 7.7 million pounds of hexane, more than 2.1 million pounds of acetaldehyde, 235,125 pounds of formaldehyde, and 357,564 pounds of acrolein. In comparison, oil refineries that year emitted 2.6 million pounds of hexane, 10,420 pounds of acetaldehyde, 67,774 pounds of formaldehyde, and zero pounds of acrolein.
Formaldehyde causes cancer in humans (according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer) and acetaldehyde is a possible human carcinogen, according to the EPA. Acrolein is “toxic to humans following inhalation, oral or dermal exposure” and can cause upper respiratory tract irritation, nausea, vomiting and shortness of breath, while hexane exposure can affect the central nervous system and cause eye and throat irritation.
As the new report explains, these “four pollutants also contribute to the formation of low-level ozone, or smog, associated with various respiratory diseases; and small particles like soot that can cause heart attacks and asthma.”
The biofuels industry is the largest source of acrolein emissions in the US, and Cargill’s ethanol plant located in Blair, Nebraska is the single largest source of acrolein nationally. In 2022 the facility reported the release of 34,489 kilograms of toxic waste, according to the EIP. The researchers also found that one of the largest hexane extraction plants in the country is the Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM) grain processing facility located in Decatur, Illinois. The plant released 2.2 million pounds of pollution by 2022.
Neither ADM nor Cargill responded to a request for comment.
Geoff Cooper, CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, disputed the EIP report, saying it was “grossly flawed” in its understanding of the US renewable fuel industry, and included ethanol, biodiesel and renewable diesel production. He said, for example, that hexane is not used at all in the ethanol production process anywhere in the US, yet “it is a misnomer that the extraction of hexane from gasoline is ethanol.” In addition, he said, the companies listed as the biggest emitters are not ethanol plants per se, but rather wet mills where ethanol is one of several products. More than 90% of gasoline ethanol is produced in dry mills, according to Cooper.
“Additionally, US ethanol plants are strictly regulated in their emissions, and producers comply with all federal and state emissions limits. “Once a violation of the law is identified, which is very rare, the manufacturers immediately take corrective measures and proceed to compliance,” he said.
In addition to harmful air pollutants, the production of biofuels produces greenhouse gas emissions that cause dangerous climate change. US biofuel plants emitted more than 33 million tons of this air pollution by 2022, the report found, which is comparable to more than eight coal-fired plants operating around the clock. “That’s a significant number for an industry that presents itself as climate-friendly and environmentally sustainable,” Bernhardt said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Previous research has cast doubt on the idea of these biofuels as a green alternative to petroleum. A 2022 study for example suggested that corn-based ethanol production is no less carbon-efficient, and may be more so, than gasoline, especially when considering full life-cycle impacts including fertilizer use and land-use change.
(Source: Environmental Integrity Project report)
The US is the largest producer of biofuels in the world, with 18.5 billion liters produced in 2022 alone (about 40% of the global total). Most of that production, about 15 billion gallons, was ethanol, made primarily from corn and soybeans. As the report notes, about half of all soybeans and one-third of all corn grown is not for food, but rather for fuel production.
Backed by billions of dollars in federal subsidies and dozens of federal policies and incentives, the US biofuels industry has grown rapidly over the past few decades. And the industry continues to grow, with at least 32 new or expanded facilities under construction or proposed that could increase production capacity by 33% over 2023 levels, according to the EIP report. Most of this planned new product is so-called “sustainable jet fuel” made from wood or plant stock.
But existing biofuel plants, new research suggests, have a poor record of environmental compliance and contribute significantly to climate and hazardous air pollution that endangers the health of rural residents, especially those living near or under these plants.
The ADM plant in Illinois, one of the largest biofuels facilities in the country, was the largest polluter in the industry in 2022, emitting 4 million tons of greenhouse gases and nearly 3 million pounds of hazardous air pollutants.
“People near Decatur, IL, are constantly exposed to air pollution that can damage their brains and cause dizziness and nausea. “ADM’s ethanol plant also emits more greenhouse gases than places like oil refineries in Illinois,” said Robert Hirschfeld, director of water policy at the Prairie Rivers Network, an Illinois-based environmental organization.
Eliot Clay, director of land use at the Illinois Environmental Council, argued during a press conference that the industrial agriculture sector “continues to wash biofuels.” He said the new report helps highlight the fact that people in central and southern Illinois are “living with alarming levels of exposure to toxic industries.”
However, as the report explains, biofuels are not exempt from strict air pollution controls, as the EPA in 2007 removed corn-based ethanol from the list of facilities subject to strict air pollution restrictions under the Clean Air Act. The report also found that more than one-third of biofuel plants (with data available) failed to comply with the Air Pollution Act as measured by “stack inspections” and that 41 percent of facilities violated their air pollution control permits at least once between July 2021 and May. 2024.
In addition to better enforcement, the EIP report recommends that federal regulators stop allowing exemptions for ethanol producers, improve monitoring and control of hazardous air pollution from biofuel facilities, require producers to improve the accuracy of their emissions reporting, and call for the elimination of fossil fuels. biofuels. subsidies and mandates such as the Renewable Fuel Standard.
“The environmental benefits of these government foundations are questionable,” Bernhardt said.
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