By CFDC’s Douglas Durante, Letter to the Editor, The Hill, Response to Oil Lobby Looks to Delay Deadlines for New Renewable Fuels Standard —
Biofuels are critical and necessary alternatives to environmentally hazardous fossil fuels (“Oil lobby looks to delay deadlines for new renewable fuels standard,” Feb. 13, 2008). Concerning the frenzy over the recently released studies regarding biofuel cropland and its impact on greenhouse gases, it’s important to note that the energy bill of 2007 and its renewable fuel standard has specifically addressed these issues. The bill, signed into law, sets lifecycle global warming pollution reduction standards for all new biofuels. The architects of the legislation anticipated hurdles and created mechanisms for addressing them. Many more studies have revealed the potential of biofuels, including a joint study released in January by the USDA and the University of Nebraska indicating that greenhouse gas emissions from switchgrass-derived ethanol were 94 percent lower than emissions from gasoline. While we must continue to research best practices and methods moving forward, it’s simply premature and foolish to write off biofuels and their potential to satisfy our nation’s energy, economic and environmental needs. As far as delaying implementation of the 2009 usage levels, we will have plenty of production in the US to easily meet those requirements. Not surprising that this suggestion comes from the petroleum industry.
~ Douglas A. Durante,
Executive Director, Clean Fuels Development Coalition, Bethesda, MD