BIO urges US to stabilise the RFS

The Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) has submitted documents to the House Science and Environment Subcommittee for a hearing on motor fuel standards, stating that the Renewable Fuel Standard is working with congress to increase US energy security and economic competitiveness.

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s industrial & environmental section, says: ‘Pioneering U.S. advanced biofuel producers and biotechnology companies have made significant capital investments, even during the recent recession, to build and operate pilot facilities and more recently break ground on commercial biorefineries. Experience at scale is critical for cost reduction.’

He lists INEOS New Planet, Abengoa Bioenergy, POET, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, Mascoma, and BP Biofuels as companies that are beginning to operate large-scale cellulosic ethanol plants.

This will in turn give a boost to the economy because it will create jobs in research, engineering and other sectors.

However, Erickson warns that progress could be hindered by political uncertainty surrounding the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

‘Some special interest groups are threatening this progress and creating additional uncertainty by calling for an end to the RFS. One industry group that helped to devise the waiver credit mechanism program now claims that refiners and blenders are being penalised by having to abide by the regulations,’ he says.

Many companies are facing challenges but are still investing in order to commercialise their technology. Aside from a certain RFS, Erickson acknowledges that the company will also need the EPA to ‘ensure that advanced biofuels that are drop in fuels are evaluated under technology neutral rules so that they can become certified quickly for use in the market’.

‘The RFS is a critically important tool for ensuring that fuel markets will be open to new advanced technology as it becomes commercially available and cost competitive. Any drastic legislative changes to the RFS, followed by additional years of new rulemaking, can only create fresh challenges for these companies and serve to hinder development of the technology,’ Erickson says.