Advanced BioFuels USA

by David Vander Griend (Urban Air Initiative/Biofuels Digest)  … Whether in New Delhi, Kansas City, New York, or Beijing, less driving has resulted in cleaner air. Vistas that previously were only foggy images have burst through as crystal clear pictures of what clean air actually looks like. If we thought we were cleaning the air before, we now see we can do better.

The fact that reduced driving equates to reduced pollution is not a surprise to many of us in the fuel business who have studied and understand the negative aspects of our reliance on petroleum alone. And it relates to a second disturbing reality: Minority communities are disproportionately contracting COVID 19 because of the poor air quality resulting from the traffic congestion of the inner cities.

In establishing the Urban Air Initiative, our objective was to improve fuel quality, while recognizing that eliminating the internal combustion engine is neither an immediate nor practical strategy to reducing pollution. With more than 260 million cars registered in the U.S., we will continue to rely on gasoline for the foreseeable future — but we can identify the most harmful components of gasoline and replace them. Ethanol, for example, is a superior substitute for the family of benzene octane gas additives that produce microscopic particulates and are linked to a range of respiratory and other ailments.

In naming our organization the Urban Air Initiative, we did so knowing urban areas are disproportionately subject to harmful auto emissions, and that they are where the most help is needed.

And who lives in urban areas? The very minority groups feeling the brunt of the coronavirus crisis.

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 So an obvious question is whether these people were predisposed to getting sick by virtue of simply living in urban areas. Our research has always suggested that is the case, but a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health is one of many research efforts that come to this conclusion.

The most important finding of the study is that people living in counties in the U.S. that have experienced a higher level of air pollution as measured by the Environmental Protection Agency over the past 15 to 17 years have a substantially higher COVID-19 mortality rate. And we believe pollution is much, much worse than what the EPA measures. Particulates associated with coal fired power plants or diesel fuel are just part of the story. Much smaller “ultra-fine” particulates that are literally microscopic are essentially unregulated and unreported.

In our correspondence with the EPA, the agency has conceded its modeling fails to capture these tiny particles and their precursors. It has long been understood that fine particulates linger in the air and travel great distances, with data showing anyone within 300 yards of a congested roadway is exposed. READ MORE

Boost alternative fuels to clean air and help fight COVID-19 (Daily Herald)

Group Condemns EPA’s Criticism of Harvard Study on Gasoline Emissions and Covid-19 Transmission (Biofuels Digest)

Letter to EPA Regarding Covid-19 & Fine Particulates (Dakota Ag Energy)

Excerpt from Biofuels Digest: In a letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, the group said statements by Tony Cox, Chair of the Advisory Committee have “grossly mischaracterized the science linking fine particulate matter emissions to greater incidence of adverse health conditions, including the pandemic of Covid-19.”Mr. Cox had called the study, conducted by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, as a “bogus analysis,” as “technically unsound,” and with “sensational policy implications, none of which are trustworthy.”

The letter cites recent reports of increased potential for aerosol transmission of the coronavirus as well as pointing out that EPA scientists have previously acknowledged that hydrocarbons from gasoline combustion could weaponize secondary organic aerosols and act as carriers of a virus.

The group is also concerned with Mr. Cox’s ties to the American Petroleum Institute, including his role in a controversial 2017 study suggesting asthma was more closely associated with income and not gasoline exhaust.  READ MORE