Senators John Thune, R-S.D.; Jon Tester, D-Mont.; and Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., reintroduced legislation Wednesday that they say will fix the flawed definition of renewable biomass in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
The definition of "Renewable Biomass" in the 2007 Energy Bill excludes any material removed from national forests and most private forestlands. Therefore, cellulosic ethanol derived from this feedstock does not count toward the expanded Renewable Fuels Standard, resulting in blenders and refiners having no incentive or requirement to purchase biofuels produced from these sources.
According to a 2005 U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Agriculture study, about 2 billion tons of treatable biomass on federal forestland is available for bioenergy production.
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