The Nexus of Biofuels, Climate Change, and Human Health Workshop Summary (2014) / Chapter Skim
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10 Government Perspectives on Biofuels and Human Health
10 Government Perspectives on Biofuels and Human Health
Pages 153-166
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From page 153... ...
Environmental health is very broad, and our portfolio reflects the breadth of it, ranging from toxicological investigations at the molecular level to community epidemiology and over a large number of different kinds of health impacts." Thus, the main contribution that the NIEHS can make to the biofuels discussion, Balbus said, is to provide basic scientific results that can be used to inform health impact assessments (HIAs) and sustainability assessments.
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From page 154... ...
One is examining the health implications of air conditioning use and, in particular, of increasing air conditioning use in the Midwest, while the other is looking at changes in housing insulation and housing stock and what those changes imply for the rates of heat stress and heat mortality. Another NIEHS program that may be of interest to those assessing biofuels-related impacts is the National Toxicology Program (NTP)
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From page 155... ...
The goal is to study the decisions that are made around the world concerning energy policy, agricultural policy, and economic development and examine how environmental health plays a role in those decisions -- or sometimes does not play the role that it should. The ultimate goal is to learn how to "create the frameworks, the basic science, the indicators and metrics, and the surveillance and evaluation programs that can allow sustainable development decisions to be properly informed by environmental health science." CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION The next panelist was Christopher J
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From page 156... ...
It is a classic CDC center, he said, or, literally, linked center and agency. Its combined mission is to protect people and save lives by preventing harmful exposures to things in the environment.
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From page 157... ...
We have seen it over and over again. Those types of boom-and-bust situations have major impacts on human health." Thus, when one carries out an HIA looking at, say, using biofuels at the current level versus not using them, these are the sorts of issues that must be taken into account in order to get a complete and accurate picture on how biofuels affect health.
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From page 158... ...
He had wondered, ""What does thhat have to t do with heealth? " But affter hearing tthe first day'ss presentationns, Cassiddy said, he haad revisited th he vision stattement for thhe Office of tthe
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From page 159... ...
"After what I have heard this week," Cassidy said, "I think we need to expand that health area." His office also has a program involved with assessment. The Natural Resources Conservation Service runs a program called the Conservation Effects Assessment Program, a multidisciplinary, multi-institution effort to examine the environmental effects over time of putting best management practices in place.
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From page 160... ...
She always just thought of milk as coming from the grocery store. But he recently took her to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, where Mississippi State University had set up a robotic cow and held demonstrations on how to milk a cow.
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From page 161... ...
A much smaller amount of other fuels are also projected to be replaced by biofuels, including jet fuel, home heating oil, and locomotive fuel. According to the EPA's life-cycle estimates, once the program is fully implemented in 2022, the use of renewable fuels is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 138 million metric tons -- equivalent to the annual emissions of 27 million passenger vehicles.
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From page 162... ...
It has been nothing short of amazing, and sometimes, you have to scratch your head at the questions that we get from people that are bringing various feedstocks in, and saying can they make a renewable fuel out of it." So, the RFS program provides a petition process through which parties can request that the EPA analyze new fuel pathways and provide a compliance determination. Simon then briefly discussed the air quality assessment that the EPA carried out that looked at the impact of using 36 billion gallons of biofuels in 2022, relative to the RFS1 requirements, which called for 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol.
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From page 163... ...
The air quality impacts are expected to vary widely across regions, Simon said, but in total the modeling predicts that increases in annual average ambient levels of particulate matter and ozone concentrations could cause up to 245 cases of adult premature mortality. "That was based on the emissions impacts from the vehicles that we understood at the time as well as the assessment on both the health impacts and also where we thought the fuel mix would be," Simon said.
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From page 164... ...
There are three particular issues concerning palm oil that the EPA is trying to sort through, Simon said. "One is what is the appropriate number to use for the impact of palm oil production on peat oil and peat emissions?
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From page 165... ...
The department's researchers are very interested in cellulosic biofuels in general, and they are looking not only at corn stover, but also at oilseeds, wood, perennial grasses, and even algae, although most of the research on algae is being carried out by DOE. Luz Claudio, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, asked if the emphasis on biofuels as an alternative source of energy might be taking attention away from other alternative sources, such as solar energy or wind power.
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