Groups Urge Congress to Preserve Biofuel Emissions Science

Hearing Will Focus on Waxman-Markey Bill and Biofuel Emissions

WASHINGTON (June 11, 2009) – The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and nineteen other groups are urging Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) to ensure that the federal government uses all available science to determine the amount of heat-trapping emissions biofuels produce.

Peterson chairs the House Committee on Agriculture, which will hold a hearing today on the climate and energy legislation introduced by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA). Environmental and science groups are concerned with Peterson's recent efforts to short-circuit an ongoing scientific process at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Specifically, Peterson is attempting to prevent the agency from developing heat-trapping emissions standards for indirect land use changes related to biofuels. Some biofuel production displaces food crops and drives up commodity prices. This gives farmers at home and abroad an incentive to clear new lands and cut down forests—activities which release heat-trapping emissions.

"EPA is in the middle of a rigorous and transparent process to review and improve the science of land use emissions accounting," said Dr. Jeremy Martin, a senior scientist in UCS's Clean Vehicles Program. "Congress needs to let the agencies bring all the science to bear on this issue."

Ron Burke, director of UCS's Midwest office, said preventing science from informing the climate and energy bill would be a mistake. "Ignoring the science is the worst thing we could do to the biofuel industry's bottom line," he said. "Investors want to put their money in clean, low-carbon fuels, not fuels that need an anti-science loophole to survive in the marketplace."

In a letter sent to Peterson yesterday (pdf), the groups said, "Agriculture and forestry are poised to be leaders in sustainable climate solutions and this represents an historic opportunity for rural development. But to realize this opportunity we need policies built on sound science, and science supports the inclusion of indirect land-use change in the assessment of biofuels."

Source: The Union of Concerned Scientists