The president calls for five to ten commercial demonstration projects to be up and running by 2016. The president’s Biofuels Interagency Working Group released its first report – Growing America’s Fuel. The report, authored by group co-chairs, secretaries Vilsack and Chu, and administrator Jackson, lays out a strategy to advance the development and commercialization of a sustainable biofuels industry to meet or exceed the nation’s biofuels targets.
EPA has finalized a rule implementing the long-term renewable fuels mandate of 36 billion gallons by 2022 established by Congress. The Renewable Fuels Standard requires biofuels production to grow from last year’s 11.1 billion gallons to 36 billion gallons in 2022, with 21 billion gallons to come from advanced biofuels.
The president’s memorandum establishes an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage to develop a comprehensive and coordinated federal strategy to speed the development and deployment of clean coal technologies.
The task force will be co-chaired by representatives of from DOE and EPA and include participants from at least nine different agencies and offices. The task force shall develop within 180 days a plan to overcome the barriers to the deployment of widespread affordable CCS within 10 years, with a goal of bringing five to ten commercial demonstration projects on line by 2016.
The plan should address incentives for CCS adoption and any financial, economic, technological, legal, institutional, or other barriers to deployment.
Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator, said: “EPA is proud to be a part of the President’s effort to combat climate change and put Americans back to work – both through the new renewable fuel standards and through our co-chairmanship with the Department of Energy of the Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage.”
