Targeting Ethanol Mandates Seen Hurting Cellulosic Growth
by Alan Bjerga & Mario Parker (Bloomberg) Efforts to roll back rules that nurtured the corn-based ethanol industry threaten to stunt other promising biofuels, according to a developer working on one of the nation’s first commercial plants that won’t use the grain.
Lower quotas for renewable fuel use are being considered as part of a plan to raise the federal borrowing limit by U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican. The move would threaten investments in a few next-generation plants, said Stephan Tanda, a managing board member at Royal DSM NV (DSM), a Heerlen, Netherlands-based manufacturer.
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Adjusting the mandates would halt efforts to develop the cellulosic-ethanol industry and limit the use of biofuel derived from corn, Poet Chief Executive Officer Jeff Lautt said.
“We’re finally here, we’re at the doorstep of commercialization,” Lautt said. “Our opponents, who have had the luxury of having control of the fuel supply in the U.S. since the inception of automobiles, would love to see the RFS either tweaked or repealed or anything in between.” READ MORE
