Douglas, L. (2022, December 15). U.S. biofuels proposal would lift near-term greenhouse gas emissions, EPA says. Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-biofuels-proposal-would-lift-near-term-greenhouse-gas-emissions-epa-says-2022-12-15/

According to Leah Douglas, the EPA predicts that their proposal to increase the concentration of biofuel in gasoline and diesel will lead to a short-term increase of greenhouse gas emissions for around three years. This is because creating new tilling for corn, soy, and other plants releases carbon from the soil. However, the EPA is confident that there will be significant reductions in the long term. They predict a net reduction of anywhere from 128 million to 1.16 billion metric tons of greenhouse gasses, which is equivalent to taking 28 to 250 million cars off the road for a year. According to the EPA’s analysis, the increased usage of ethanol could decrease greenhouse gasses by 99 million metric tons, but it could also increase them by as much as 13.8 million metric tons over 30 years.  Unfortunately, there would likely be a dramatic increase in climate disasters after the emissions that this plan would initially create, according to professors such as Valerie Thomas. 

Overall, scientists seem unsure of the implications of making this switch to biofuels. Different research teams contradict each other, and all of the predictions mentioned in this article admit that there is a huge variation in the results that switching to biofuels could have. Since some scientists confess that it could possibly lead to a long term increase in greenhouse gasses, I’m not sure this is a good idea. I’m even more doubtful of the EPA’s decision because of the three years where there would be a dramatic increase in carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere because of the increase in crops, since we are already experiencing so many storms due to climate change. A switch to biofuels, even if hugely beneficial in the long term, may push many endangered species to extinction.