Sierra Club Sues EPA for Overdue RFS Environmental Impact Study

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is almost four years past a deadline for its study of the environmental impact of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Lawmakers need that information to assess the program’s effectiveness or make needed changes, the Sierra Club said in a lawsuit aimed at compelling the agency to complete the study."EPA’s failure to analyze and address the impacts of the agency’s annual standards, which have drastically increased biofuel volumes in our nation’s fuel mix, has led to unchecked land conversion," the club said in a statement. "Approximately 40% of the U.S. corn crop is diverted to biorefineries for fuel production, up from nine percent in 2001," with the associated runoff causing algae blooms in the Great Lakes and a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico."What Administrator Pruitt said in his confirmation hearing still stands: he doesn’t want to take any steps to undermine the objectives in the statute of the RFS," EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said. "We continue to work with RFS stakeholders to ensure EPA is applying the statute."