Grassley: ‘This GREET-model update is a stupid approach’

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, one of two grain farmers in the Senate, condemned the Biden administration for restricting grain producers’ ability to contribute to the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market.

Grassley serves on the Senate Committees on Agriculture and Finance.

“Here are two main issues with the Biden administration’s GREET-model decision,” Grassley said. “First, this new formula is going to be easy to violate. Second, without grain in the formula, there won’t be enough feedstock to make all the sustainable aviation fuel environmentalists are crying for. To put it bluntly, this GREET-model update is a stupid approach. Widespread use of sustainable aviation fuel will help fight global warming. But rejecting grain feedstocks will impede efforts to produce that fuel on a commercial scale.”

Grassley added that some people might argue this decision won’t impact farmers’ bottom lines because they can sell their corn and soybeans elsewhere. 

“That’s hogwash,” he said. “And it shows the people saying it don't know much about how farmers deliver their grain. These new barriers to entry will strip farmers of a significant market opportunity.”

Members of Iowa’s agriculture community have shared with Grassley their concerns about changing GREET model implementation.

Grassley brought their views to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack’s attention.

He and bipartisan, Midwestern colleagues have urged the agencies responsible for determining how the treasury department applies the GREET model—the U.S. EPA as well as the departments of agriculture, energy and transportation—to preserve the formula for SAF. 

The GREET model is the most science-based formula available for assessing lifecycle emissions, according to Grassley.

Developed by DOE’s nonpartisan Argonne National Lab, it recognizes the environmental benefits biofuels bring to the table.

Grassley has long encouraged the treasury department to use the GREET model to administer SAF tax credits.

The Biden administration issued a modified GREET model April 30 in conjunction with additional requirements, “undermining the science on which the formula is based,” Grassley said.

The modifications burden producers with farming mandates and hamper the aviation industry’s transition to environmentally conscious fuels.

Specific changes follow:

• For blenders to qualify for 40B tax credits, which expire at the end of the 2024 calendar year, farmers would have needed to grow their corn using efficient tilling, cover crops and precise fertilizer application; soybean farmers must have used efficient tilling and cover crops.

• For producers to qualify for 45Z tax credits, which take effect Jan. 1, 2025, corn and soybean farmers will need to grow their grains under one of the above methods.

• The updated carbon-intensity formula will consider additional sustainable techniques for biofuel producers.

Forcing farmers to adopt certain practices limits their access to a burgeoning market with high feedstock demand, Grassley noted.

The Biden administration’s modified GREET model “could further drive a wedge between America’s biggest farms and its smaller ones, as larger operations will have the margins to adapt quickly,” he said.

And, by delaying this announcement for months, the Biden administration disadvantaged farmers who may have tried to implement new growing methods for SAF market entry.

“With planting already under way, farmers who don’t use efficient tilling, cover crops and precise fertilizer application won’t have the opportunity to contribute to the SAF market this season,” the senator said.

To watch a video of Grassley addressing this, click here.