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Excerpt from www.wvpe.org
The United States’ pivot to biofuels is releasing large amounts of hazardous air pollution into largely rural communities, according to a new report. The Environmental Integrity Project is calling for the end of biofuel subsidies and improved regulations of the industry’s emissions.
The report said biofuels — like corn ethanol and biodiesel from soybeans — released almost as much total hazardous air pollution as oil refineries in 2022. But unlike fossil fuel plants, biofuels have nearly twice the threshold before they’re mandated to install pollution controls.
Courtney Bernhardt is the director of research for the Environmental Integrity Project.
“It means that rural communities, largely across the Midwest, near biofuel manufacturing plants often suffer from unhealthy air quality,” Bernhardt said.
The report said lax regulations on these plants are harming the environment and communities they’re in, despite the industry’s “green-washing.”
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