OBAMA ON BIOFUELS

Obama urges greater use of biofuels; The EPA gives corn ethanol a larger share of the renewable-fuels markets, and the administration moves to speed the development of technologies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants.
Jim Tankersley, February 3, 2010 (LA Times)

"The Obama administration gave a boost to the corn and coal industries…[with] a series of moves to accelerate biofuel use and deploy so-called clean-coal technology on power plants.

"Unveiling the actions in a meeting with energy-state governors at the White House, President Obama said the steps would create jobs in rural areas, reduce foreign energy dependence and curb the emissions that scientists blame for global warming."

The problem: GAO found that ethanol IS a GhG problem. (click to enlarge)

[President Obama:] "It's important for us to understand that in order for us to move forward with a robust energy policy…we've got to have not an either/or philosophy but a both/and philosophy -- a philosophy that says traditional sources of energy are going to continue to be important for a while, so we've got to just use technologies to make them cleaner and more efficient."

"Most notably, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made final a regulation that could give corn ethanol a much larger share of the renewable-fuel market mandated by Congress in 2007…[after recalculating a controversial calculation] that would have minimized corn ethanol's role because of concerns about the fuel's overall pollution-fighting credentials…[The EPA rule will] lead to a $41.5-billion reduction in oil imports and take the equivalent of 27 million vehicles off the road."

The problem: Subsidies to ethanol reduce subsidies to better solutions. (click to enlarge)

"Administration officials also announced a revamped strategy to put the nation on track to meet the congressional mandate of 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022, in hopes of fixing a government effort that officials admit has fallen short in its attempts to wean cars and trucks away from fossil fuels and move toward ethanol, biodiesel and other crop-based fuels. The nation currently produces about 12 billion gallons of biofuel, mostly corn ethanol, and the federal government projects the country will not meet the 2022 goal.

"And Obama issued a presidential memorandum to speed the development of technologies that capture and store the carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants, with a goal of bringing five to 10 commercial-scale projects on line by 2016…"