PRES LIKES NEXT-GEN BIOFUELS

Obama seeks growth in biofuels beyond ethanol
Roberta Rampton (w/Gary Hill), May 27, 2009 (Reuters)

"President Barack Obama… wants to see new types of biofuels commercialized as quickly as possible, but the corn-based ethanol industry needs to remain viable in the meantime…"

[President Obama’s letter farm-state governors:] "My administration is committed to moving as quickly as possible to commercialize an array of emerging cellulosic technologies so that tomorrow's biofuels will be produced from sustainable biomass feedstocks and waste materials rather than corn… But this transition will be successful only if the first-generation biofuels industry remains viable in the near term…"

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"Most biofuel currently used in the United States is ethanol made from corn. The U.S. government wants to boost production of renewable fuels made from non-food crops like switchgrass and plant waste left over from harvesting grain…Biofuels help reduce climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the need for importing oil while creating jobs, Obama wrote.

"The ethanol sector has been hit hard by high corn prices, lower oil prices, and overcapacity. New types of biofuels are currently more expensive to produce than corn-based ethanol…[But] regulators and lawmakers are debating how to measure the [cost] of land-use change…[as when] emissions [are] released when corn production displaces other crops, giving farmers the incentive to turn forests into cropland."

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"Poor market conditions have threatened the development of new types of biofuels, the Governors' Biofuels Coalition told Obama in a letter earlier this year, asking him to put forth a vision for biofuels and establish a task force on the debate over biofuels' greenhouse gas emissions…Obama established that task force earlier this month.

"The governors also asked Obama to increase the maximum allowed limit for blending ethanol with gasoline to 13 percent from the current 10 percent level to expand the market…The Environmental Protection Agency is slated to rule…by December 1…"