May 27 2013
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today submitted comments in response to the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s third white paper on the Renewable Fuel Standard, “Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Other Environmental Impacts.”
Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section, wrote in the comments, “Given BIO’s broad and diverse set of member companies involved in energy, manufacturing and agricultural production, we are able to provide a unique perspective on the issues the Committee is seeking to have answered.”
“Congress established the RFS to encourage the use of existing biofuels and the development of advanced biofuels in order to reduce our reliance on the rising cost and price volatility of foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Erickson continued. “It is crucial we maintain the RFS in order to spur on alternative energy production and mitigate environmental impacts of petroleum. In fact the RFS is one of the rare cases of an existing and functioning greenhouse reduction program. A repeal or reduction in the RFS would be tantamount to environmental backsliding.”
Erickson’s response concluded, “While primarily an economic and energy security policy, the RFS has already resulted in environmental benefits from the transportation fuel sector, incuding dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and offers the potential for substantial additional benefits in the decades to come. Realization of these future benefits is dependent on the ability of advanced biofuel developers to raise the capital necessary to build out a national advanced biofuel industry. That ability is critically dependent on the legislative stability and consistent implementation of the program. The best thing Congress can do to achieve these future benefits is to resist oil industry pressure to revise the program in their favor and allow the RFS to work.”