EPA Cuts Cellulosic Ethanol Fuel Mandate 94% - Still Not Commercially Scalable - Bloomberg

[hatrack]

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed requiring less cellulosic ethanol to be blended into gasoline next year than sought under U.S. law because production of the alternative fuel hasn’t reached commercial scale.

The decision is part of the EPA’s proposed standard for renewable fuels of about 14 billion gallons, or 7.95 percent of transportation fuels used in the U.S., the agency said today in a news release. The goal for cellulosic biofuels, based on an analysis of market availability, is 5 million to 17.1 million gallons, or as much as 0.015 percent, according to the agency.

Cellulosic ethanol, made from switchgrass, wood chips and agricultural waste such as corn cobs, has been promoted as having a smaller carbon footprint than fuel made from corn because it provides less incentive to cut down trees or plow up prairies to create cropland. The Obama administration said it will continue to evaluate the market as it works to make the cellulosic standard final in coming months. The EPA “remains optimistic” that the commercial availability of cellulosic biofuel will continue to rise over the next few years, the agency said.

In February, the EPA slashed the cellulosic ethanol mandate for this year by 94 percent, reducing the goal to 6.5 million gallons from the 100 million required under a 2007 energy law. The agency said corn-based ethanol produces less greenhouse-gas emissions than previously anticipated, clearing the way for more use of the fuel.

EDIT

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-12/epa-proposes-cellulosic-ethanol-requirement-that-falls-short-of-u-s-goals.html

[Christopher Calder]

1. Biofuels should be banned, not subsidized and mandated!

PLEASE SEE "The biofuel hoax is causing as world food crisis!" at: http://biofuel.50webs.com/

There are no good biofuels for automotive use and there never will be. Ethanol and biodiesel should be banned, not mandated and subsidized. Biofuel production has been the greatest tragedy of the past 20 years, killing more people than the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined, and doing far more environmental damage worldwide than any other new activity of man. The biofuel hoax was born of greed and political corruption, and has only been allowed to happen because our television media has refused to cover the subject honestly. Both Republican and Democratic parties are guilty as hell in this deadly and destructive fiasco, and many famous people of both political parties continue to support this biofuel insanity even though they have been presented with the real scientific facts about how counterproductive it all is. Politicians are largely ego driven and power hungry. They will support causes they know are destructive to their own nation just to win the next election. We need to expose the biofuel hoax for what it is, and hold accountable all those politicians who have brought the human food supply to such a desperate point of inadequacy.

[Kringle]

2. corn exports...bad for the US economy .nt