Senators call for 'sound science' in climate change debate

Iowa's U.S. senators promised Thursday to fight any attempt to penalize the biofuels industry in the development of climate change legislation.

Democrat Sen. Tom Harkin admitted there's reason for concern as the Environmental Protection Agency determines greenhouse gas emission.

"Yeah, think we ought to be nervous. I'm kind of nervous about it, too, but I'm sure hopeful," Harkin said.

 Republican Chuck Grassley Thursday he introduced legislation to ensure the biofuels industry is not penalized for the EPA's use of what he called non-scientific data. His bill would improve several provisions of the expanded Renewable Fuels Standard enacted in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, he said.

One of the senators' chief concerns is the EPA's requirement to include indirect land use changes in calculating the impact of biofuels.

"It's ridiculous to think that Brazilian farmers are looking to see what Iowa farmers are doing to determine how they run their own business, and quite frankly it's plain unfair to farmers," Grassley said.

He said the EPA's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking relied on incomplete science and inaccurate assumptions to penalize the domestic biofuels industry for indirect land use changes, Grassley said.

Harkin's on the same page, saying he doubts the EPA can come up with "a definable methodology for calculating indirect land use. There are too many factors there."

Ethanol always had had detractors, but he doesn't think it has fallen out of favor with Congress.

"For years we've fought this thing that we put more energy in than what we get out," he said. "Now we've had definitive study done by the government that shows that's not true. In fact, we get more energy per unit out of ethanol than we get out of gasoline."

Grassley brought his concerns to the attention of President Obama during a recent private lunch and raised the issue with Nancy Sutley, the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality at the White House.

Harkin doubts the Senate will take up the emissions standards this year.

"We've got to stay focused on health care reform," he said.