Press Herald interviews Rubin about EPA review, ethanol in gasoline
The Portland Press Herald spoke with Jonathan Rubin, a professor of resource economics and policy at the University of Maine, for the article “EPA review raises alarm in Maine over potential increase of ethanol in gasoline.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed revising its renewable fuel standard, or RFS, and potentially increasing the amount of ethanol mixed into traditional petroleum-based fuels, according to the article. Rubin, whose research area includes renewable fuels, said he thinks the debate over the EPA’s new standards is overblown. He said the new standards would only result in “very modest increases” in the use of corn-based ethanol, the article states. As long as the 10 percent “blendwall” is not breached, there will be no effect in Maine, he said. “It’s really sort of a minor thing,” he said of the EPA’s review.