Children and Americans need protecting from deadly gasoline carcinogens
Many Nebraskans first heard about the deadly carcinogenic compounds in gasoline that are linked to a broad range of adverse health effects 35 years ago, when then-President George H.W. Bush visited Lincoln to promote his landmark 1990 Clean Air Act at the invitation of the then-chairman of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, Howard Buffett.
The most deadly air toxics make up 20 percent of every gallon of gasoline you put in your car. They are linked to a broad range of adverse health effects — from asthma and autism to cancers and dementia. They are so small that they bypass the lungs and enter the bloodstream directly, where they are absorbed by organs, including the placenta, and thus the fetus.
An estimated 40% of Nebraska’s corn is sold to ethanol plants. This corn field, pictured last summer, was in Saunders County, Nebraska, just outside of Ashland. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)
Bush during and after his Nebraska visit successfully urged Congress to substitute high-octane ethanol for toxic gasoline carcinogens, preferred by the petroleum industry since they are made from oil — a process that’s costly and emits enormous quantities of carbon and toxics into the air at the refinery.
In a major shock to the oil industry, Congress adopted President Bush’s proposal. Congress banned lead in gasoline and also required the EPA to ensure the “greatest achievable reductions” in air toxics caused by gasoline carcinogens. That mandatory language is still part of the Clean Air Act, having been reaffirmed by Congress in 2005 in the same law that laid the foundation for the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Two years later, the Renewable Fuels Standard was expanded, requiring the use of more ethanol. Farmers and ethanol producers responded impressively to the new law, but overcoming EPA’s and the petroleum industry’s repeated obstacles to ethanol blends higher than 10 percent has been difficult. This year, despite those obstacles, the nation’s ethanol industry produced 20 billion gallons of ethanol, 15 percent of which was exported, even though it’s desperately needed here at home.
While some studies argue that corn ethanol has a larger carbon footprint than gasoline, numerous experts challenge those results. One widely disseminated study has been found lacking by many experts in the three years since it was published, including scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratories. In fact, given technology advances, many experts project that corn ethanol will be classified as a “zero-carbon fuel” by 2035 if not before.
Higher ethanol blends such as E30 work. In 2018, former Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts and the Nebraska Ethanol Board had the foresight to successfully demonstrate the use of E30 high-octane ethanol blend in state-owned vehicles, which were cheaper to operate and performed better due to ethanol’s superior octane.
David Hallberg, left, Todd Sneller, center, and Larry Pearce wrote about the future of ethanol. (Courtesy of Larry Pearce)
Congress has acted. The table is set for the Trump Administration to order the EPA to do its job and remove the carcinogenic compounds from gasoline and replace them with higher ethanol blends. Transitioning from today’s nationwide E10 to nationwide E30 could generate more than $5 trillion in revenues during the 2025-2035 time frame that could be used to pay for tax cuts, a five-year farm bill, and other priorities.
E30 checks boxes: Lower cost. Environmentally safe. Technologically proven and available now. Domestically produced and secure from foreign supply interruptions. Required by law and insulated from legal derailment.
Today, science confirms that carcinogenic gasoline compounds are even more harmful to children and other vulnerable Americans than lead compounds, which cost the nation trillions of dollars in lost productivity, mental health acuity and premature deaths spanning a half century. Even more alarming are some findings that today’s advanced engine emission control systems make the most harmful emissions worse, not better.
A new book by pediatrician Debra Hendrickson (“The Air They Breathe: A Pediatrician on the Frontlines of Climate Change”) and a new study from the National Academy of Sciences on the deadly impact of airborne lead pollution during the Roman Empire are striking reminders that we must do everything possible today to reduce and eliminate toxic emissions from gasoline.
As Dr. Hendrickson wrote: “[A] growing body of science shows that fine and ultrafine particles, usually bound to toxic chemicals and heavy metals in wildfire smoke and exhaust, are causing brain injuries in children. Alarmingly, they appear to be contributing to the … rise of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as increasing the odds of learning disability, behavior issues, and later dementia.”
Thirty-five years later, it’s time to finish what the first President Bush started in Lincoln. Our children’s health and future depend on it.
David Hallberg is the founder of the Renewable Fuels Association, Todd Sneller is the former administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, and Larry Pearce is the former executive director of the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition.
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