WASHINGTON, DC - The federal government said today that it will permit corn milling facilities that make ethanol for fuel to emit more than double the amount of air pollutants previously allowed. The new rule is expected to increase the amount of ethanol available for fuel.
The final rule issued today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, treats facilities producing ethanol for human consumption, industrial use or fuel equally under Clean Air Act permitting requirements.
Until today, corn milling plants that make ethanol for use as a fuel additive have only been allowed to emit 100 tons of polluting emissions per year, while plants that make ethanol for human consumption have been permitted to emit 250 tons per year.
The new EPA rule allows all ethanol producers using corn or other carbohydrate feedstocks to emit 250 tons of air pollutants per year.
That's 500,000 POUNDS of air pollutants released into the air we breathe each year. Or, almost 1,400 pounds of air pollutants released EVERY SINGLE DAY, 365 days a year. Combine this with the pollution that will be released into the air and watershed from the thousand of vehicles transporting grain in and ethanol out of the facility and one has a nightmare scenario for residents in Southwest Missouri.
Everyone in SW Missouri will be drinking the same polluted water and breathing the same toxic air.
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