Missed Opportunity? Biden’s State of the Union Hits Big Meat, Neglects Renewable Diesel
by Tyne Morgan (AgWeb) … As the crisis in Ukraine continues to overtake the world’s attention, President Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union address Tuesday night. And while he stated the U.S. is in a better place than it was a year ago, agriculture was left largely unmentioned.
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… (J)ust last year, the Biden administration announced efforts to reduce the United States’ use of traditional jet fuel. The administration stated last year that by ramping up production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), they want 100% of the aviation fuel demand by 2050 to come from SAF. However, Tuesday night, SAF and renewable diesel, a possible demand boon for crops like soybeans, were missing from the president’s speech to the nation.
“We do think that that’s probably a missed opportunity,” says Stephen Censky, CEO of the American Soybean Association (ASA). “We would have liked to have seen the president talk more about that, given the situation that’s happening worldwide. Given the Russia-Ukraine situation, and what a big exporter Russia is of energy, given the administration’s focus on climate and doing all that we can to reduce the impacts of climate change. And to address that in a meaningful way, we have ready-made solutions to address both of those. And that’s through increasing opportunities for renewable biofuels, to compete and to provide incentives to create that space. We think it’s good for national security. And we think it’s also good for the environment.”
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Already this week, ExxonMobil became the latest oil producer to cut business ties with Russia, following similar moves by BP, Shell and Equinor.
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The news could put an even larger priority on fuels made from renewable resources, such as vegetable oil and soybean oil.
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