By CFDC’s Douglas Durante, Letter to the Editor, Investor’s Business Daily National Edition, Response to Bio-Foolish Behavior
Re “Bio-Foolish Behavior” (Editorial, Tuesday), the media uproar over the studies alleging biofuels do more harm in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels is truly much ado about nothing.
Land-use scenarios of converting grasslands or chopping down forests are simply not where the U.S. biofuels movement is headed. Answering to outrageous hypotheticals is accomplishing what critics who stand to lose market share really want, which is to have the ethanol industry running around stamping out brush fires while they attempt to reverse the public will of reducing our use of petroleum.
Corn yields are steadily on the rise, meaning we are meeting the increased use of biofuels with the land we have. And we have capped the amount of corn that can be used in these programs.For the few “prominent scientists” who requested that we shape these policies so that they do not increase global warming, at least from the U.S. perspective, we have good news: We did.Architects of the energy bill included lifecycle global warming-reduction standards that ensure all new and emerging technologies meet a carbon benchmark before policies are implemented.We stand by our data and the support of the Energy Department and EPA that biofuels such as ethanol significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when used as E85.
~ Douglas A. Durante
Executive Director
Clean Fuels Development Coalition
Bethesda, Md.