Emerson's Emissions Amendment Narrowly Fails

A House committee has rejected an amendment by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson that would have blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from measuring "indirect" emissions from land-use changes when calculating the carbon footprint of biofuels.

From the New York Times:

"Emerson and many other farm state lawmakers -- most notably Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) -- oppose the way EPA is determining biofuels' emissions in draft rules to implement the national renewable fuels standard that was expanded in a 2007 law (E&ENews PM, June 17)."

Emerson's amendment would have prevented funds in the fiscal 2010 bill from being used to promulgate rules that measure indirect emissions from land-use changes as part of the overall calculation of biofuels emissions.

Emerson's amendment was brought up as part of a $10.6 billion dollar EPA appropriations bill that has been cleared by the House.

House appropriators approved a $10.6 billion spending bill for U.S. EPA last night, tucking in several amendments aimed at insulating