05/31/05 Amendment on cellulosic ethanol

Farm and Ranch May 31, 2005 The U.S. Senate Energy Committee last week adopted an amendment to its energy bill by Washington Senator Maria Cantwell that supports the production of biofuels, such as ethanol, from more diverse crops such as wheat straw. Currently about 90 percent of U.S. biofuels are from corn but Cantwell's amendment would expand the use of cellulosic biomass, which is basically any part of a plant or tree. The amendment counts each gallon of cellulosic ethanol as 2.5 gallons toward meeting the renewable fuels standard. The renewable fuels standard, RFS, is the amount of biofuels refiners are required to mix into their petroleum fuels annually. The House of Representatives has passed a comprehensive energy bill with a five-billion gallon RFS but the Senate Energy Committee adopted an RFS of eight billion gallons by 2012. That's what renewable fuels supporters like Len Corzine, president of the National Corn Growers Association, wanted. Corzine: "The eight-billion figure is important to us because it gives us some assurance of the continued growth of the ethanol industry, which we really need to help with new cooperatives that farmers have been investing in. With that said, this eight-billion figure is a floor and not a ceiling." Current ethanol production in the United States is about four-billion gallons a year. Assuming the Senate passes a comprehensive energy bill, the renewable fuel standard is expected to be a point of negotiation between House and Senate conference committee members. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.