By Robert Pore
robert.pore@theindependent.com
On Tuesday, President Obama issued a presidential directive today to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to “aggressively accelerate the investment in and production of biofuels.”
Vilsack also announced Tuesday that he will help lead an unprecedented interagency effort to increase America’s energy independence and spur rural economic development.
Vilsack said Obama’s announcement demonstrates “his deep commitment to establishing a permanent biofuels industry in America.”
“Expanding our biofuels infrastructure provides a unique opportunity to spur rural economic development while reducing our dependence on foreign oil – one of the great challenges of the 21st century,” he said.
According to the USDA, increasing renewable fuels will reduce dependence on foreign oil by more than 297 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 160 million tons a year when fully phased in by 2022.
Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will  establish four categories of renewable fuels, some of which would be produced from new sources. To address lifecyle analysis, the EPA said they are soliciting peer reviewed, scientific feedback to ensure that the best science available is utilized prior to implementation.
“Producing clean, renewable energy in our country is a powerful rural development tool that creates jobs domestically while generating new tax revenues for local, state, and federal governments,” Vilsack said.
Obama directed Secretary Vilsack to expedite and increase production of and investment in biofuel development efforts by:
— Refinancing existing investments in renewable fuels to preserve jobs in ethanol and biodiesel plants, renewable electricity generation plants, and other supporting industries; and
— Making renewable energy financing opportunities from the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 available within 30 days. These opportunities include:
— Loan guarantees for the development, construction, and retrofitting of commercial scale biorefineries and grants to help pay for the development and construction costs of demonstration-scale biorefineries.
— Expedited funding to encourage biorefineries to replace the use of fossil fuels in plant operations by installing new biomass energy systems or producing new energy from renewable biomass.
— Expedited funding to biofuels producers to encourage production of next-generation biofuels from biomass and other non-corn feedstocks.
— Expansion of Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program, which has been renamed the Rural Energy for America Program, to include hydroelectric source technologies, energy audits, and higher loan guarantee limits.
— Guidance and support for collection, harvest, storage, and transportation assistance for eligible materials for use in biomass conversion facilities.
The USDA, Department of Energy and EPA are forming a Biofuels Interagency Working Group that will develop the nation’s first comprehensive biofuels market development program.
Vilsack said the increased collaboration between federal agencies “will accelerate the production of and access to sustainable homegrown energy options by coordinating policies that impact the supply, secure transport, and distribution of biofuels, as well as identifying new policy options to improve the environmental sustainability of biofuels feedstock production.”
The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will also work to develop policies to increase flexible fuel vehicle production and assist in retail marketing efforts while also taking into consideration land use, habitat conservation, crop management practices, water efficiency and water quality, and lifecycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions.
National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson applauded the creation of a Biofuels Interagency Working Group.
He said the purpose of the working group is to continue to analyze contentious issues such as indirect land use effects while the administration moves forward with other components of the proposed rule implementing the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2).
“There is currently no scientific agreement or certainty to quantify domestically produced ethanol impacts on land use change,” Johnson said. “I commend the President’s plan to have the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency work together in a comprehensive manner to guide the continuation and growth of the biofuels industry.”
Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation said the president’s commitment to renewable fuels will economically help rural America by producing more green jobs, while allowing the U.S. to become less dependent on foreign oil.
“Farmers and ranchers are at the forefront of producing clean, green, renewable energy,” Stallman said. “We support a comprehensive energy policy that creates a more diverse energy supply, including renewable sources such as ethanol, biodiesel, biomass and wind.”