EPA Moves Goalposts with New Definition for Cellulosic Biofuels
(Institute for Energy Research) Congress and President Bush determined that the United States should be producing specified amounts of cellulosic biofuel as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The trouble with the approach in 2007, which is still a problem today, is that a technology to produce cellulosic biofuel economically does not exist to the extent that the legislation requires. So, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has lowered the requirement for cellulosic biofuel every year. However, its lower requirement is not low enough because despite mandates, industry still cannot produce the lowered amount. So, now EPA has decided to change the definition of what constitutes cellulosic biofuels so that it can still require larger numbers than are feasible. The new definition allows an energy product that is 75 percent cellulosic to count as if it is 100 percent cellulosic.[i]
The Expanded Definition
The EPA has expanded the definition, called a pathway, of cellulosic and advanced biofuels to include liquefied and compressed natural gas produced from biogas and landfills.[ii]
…
The statutory definition of cellulosic biofuel includes “renewable fuel derived from any cellulose, hemicellulose, or lignin that is derived from renewable biomass and that has lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, as determined by the Administrator, that are at least 60 percent less than the baseline lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions”. Although the renewable fuel standard enacted in 2007 has so far been used to boost the ethanol and advanced biofuels sectors, because the standard applies broadly to biomass-derived transportation fuel, EPA has determined that renewable electricity made out of biogas from landfills, municipal wastewater treatment and solid waste digesters, and agricultural digesters meets the 60 percent greenhouse gas reduction threshold needed to qualify as a cellulosic biofuel.
How EPA intends to ensure that the qualified biofuels producing electricity are powering electric vehicles, and not the coal, natural gas, or nuclear energy that are also generating electricity, is clearly a question in determining what qualifies under this new pathway. READ MORE
