Is there any planned legislation in the US to support the bio-diesel industry?

Question

Any planned legislation similar to a bill introduced to the Senate this week, to support the ethanol biorefineries / farmers?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/ap_on_bi_ge/farm_scene_1

Answer 1

Yes!
In August 2005 the President signed the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 2005 (HR6).



Energy Policy Act of 2005

Visit the Library of Congress Web site, and search by Bill Number for HR 6.
Promoting Alternative Fuels Through Effective legislation
House Bills 1240 through 1243




In 2003, the Washington State Legislature and Governor Gary Locke approved a package of bills to promote in-state production and use of biodiesel and ethanol fuels. The District supported these bills as part of its Biodiesel and Oil Seed Industries Program.

These bills form a cohesive package aimed at encouraging in-state production of biodiesel and ethanol fuels, increasing the supply and local availability of these fuels, lowering fuels costs and increasing demand. The potential multi-million dollar economic benefits for the state of Washington are matched by the positive impacts of the improved air quality and public health, and a significant step toward energy independence.

House Bills 1240 and 1241: These bills encourage the development of in-state production facilities for biodiesel and ethanol fuels and the creation of distribution and retail sales facilities. In-state production of biodiesel and ethanol will have a significant benefit on rural economic development and local farm economies. Eastern Washington production of feedstock crops could add $85 million annually to the local economy. Statewide production and sales of biodiesel and ethanol fuels could top $2 billion.

House Bill 1240 – Biodiesel and Ethanol Production in Washington State

Allows machinery, equipment, labor and services for development of biodiesel and ethanol production facilities to qualify under the existing Distressed Area Sales and Use Tax Deferral Program (rural counties and areas with designated community empowerment zones).
Provides property and leasehold excise tax exemption for buildings, machinery, equipment and other personal property used in the production of biodiesel and ethanol fuels and the land on which this property is located.
Allows a reduces B&O tax rate (.138 percent) for biodiesel and ethanol fuel production.
House Bill 1241 – Biodiesel and Ethanol Distribution and Retail Sales

Provides a sales tax exemption on qualifying investments in machinery, equipment, labor and services to establish distribution and retail sales of biodiesel and ethanol fuels.
Allows a B&O tax deduction on amounts received from distribution and retail sales of biodiesel and ethanol fuels. Note:
Applies only to fuels that are a minimum 20% biodiesel or minimum 85% ethanol.

House bills 1242 and 1243: These bills encourage the use of biodiesel by state agencies and establish a biodiesel pilot program with school districts. State use of biodiesel demonstrates state leadership, and sets the example for municipal and private fleets. In addition, state government use helps to build the biodiesel market, resulting in lower prices due to increase demand. Use of biodiesel by school districts help to protect the health of children, as numerous studies have shown the health risk from diesel exhaust.

House Bill 1242 – Biodiesel by State Agencies

Encourages state agencies to use a blend of 20% biodiesel in all diesel-powered vehicles and equipment. After 2006, mandate the use of a 2% blend of biodiesel as a lubricity additive to ultra-low sulfur diesel, provided that the use of a lubricity additive is warranted and provided that the use of a biodiesel is comparable in performance and cost with other available lubricity additives. In 2004, Governor Gary Locke reinforced this policy with the creation of Executive Order concerning state purchasing and sustainability practices.


Central Valley School District Biodiesel Program began as a result of the biodiesel pilot program established under HB1243. Central Valley School District in Spokane was one of the first school districts in Washington to use biodiesel.
House Bill 1243 – Biodiesel Pilot Project for School Districts

Establishes a pilot program in two school districts for use of blend of 20% biodiesel with 80% ultra-low sulfur diesel. Program includes evaluation of emission benefits, maintenance costs, fuel economy, and other performance-related factors. Bill specifies that the financial burden of the program will not be place on participating school districts or the state. Commitment to find non-state funding from Office of Trade and Economic Development and the Washington State Department of Ecology.

Answer 2

Yes and we already are int he process of having a bio diesel plant built here in Adrian, Michigan

Answer 3

There better be!

Answer 4

I THINK YOU AMERICANS ARE DETERMINED TO DESTROY THIS PLANET ON WAY OR ANOTHER

That would be a global disaster
if it did .AND IS PROOF YET AGAIN THAT THIS PLANET IS GOVEREND BY INSANITY
The irony here is that the growing eagerness to slow climate change by using biofuels and planting millions of trees for carbon credits has resulted in new major causes of deforestation, say activists. And that is making climate change worse because deforestation puts far more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire world's fleet of cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships combined.

"Biofuels are rapidly becoming the main cause of deforestation in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil," said Simone Lovera, managing coordinator of the Global Forest Coalition, an environmental NGO based in Asunción, Paraguay. "We call it 'deforestation diesel'," Lovera told IPS.

Oil from African palm trees is considered to be one of the best and cheapest sources of biodiesel and energy companies are investing billions into acquiring or developing oil-palm plantations in developing countries. Vast tracts of forest in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and many other countries have been cleared to grow oil palms. Oil palm has become the world's number one fruit crop, well ahead of bananas.

Biodiesel offers many environmental benefits over diesel from petroleum, including reductions in air pollutants, but the enormous global thirst means millions more hectares could be converted into monocultures of oil palm. Getting accurate numbers on how much forest is being lost is very difficult.

The FAO's State of the World's Forests 2007 released last week reports that globally, net forest loss is 20,000 hectares per day -- equivalent to an area twice the size of Paris. However, that number includes plantation forests, which masks the actual extent of tropical deforestation, about 40,000 hectares (ha) per day, says Matti Palo, a forest economics expert who is affiliated with the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Costa Rica.

"The half a million ha per year deforestation of Mexico is covered by the increase of forests in the U.S., for example," Palo told IPS.

National governments provide all the statistics, and countries like Canada do not produce anything reliable, he said. Canada has claimed no net change in its forests for 15 years despite being the largest producer of pulp and paper. "Canada has a moral responsibility to tell the rest of the world what kind of changes have taken place there," he said.

Plantation forests are nothing like natural or native forests. More akin to a field of maize, plantation forests are hostile environments to nearly every animal, bird and even insects. Such forests have been shown to have a negative impact on the water cycle because non-native, fast-growing trees use high volumes of water. Pesticides are also commonly used to suppress competing growth from other plants and to prevent disease outbreaks, also impacting water quality.

Plantation forests also offer very few employment opportunities, resulting in a net loss of jobs. "Plantation forests are a tremendous disaster for biodiversity and local people," Lovera said. Even if farmland or savanna are only used for oil palm or other plantations, it often forces the local people off the land and into nearby forests, including national parks, which they clear to grow crops, pasture animals and collect firewood. That has been the pattern with pulp and timber plantation forests in much of the world, says Lovera.

Ethanol is other major biofuel, which is made from maize, sugar cane or other crops. As prices for biofuels climb, more land is cleared to grow the crops. U.S. farmers are switching from soy to maize to meet the ethanol demand. That is having a knock on effect of pushing up soy prices, which is driving the conversion of the Amazon rainforest into soy, she says. Meanwhile rich countries are starting to plant trees to offset their emissions of carbon dioxide, called carbon sequestration. Most of this planting is taking place in the South in the form of plantations, which are just the latest threat to existing forests. "Europe's carbon credit market could be disastrous," Lovera said.

The multi-billion-euro European carbon market does not permit the use of reforestation projects for carbon credits. But there has been a tremendous surge in private companies offering such credits for tree planting projects. Very little of this money goes to small land holders, she says. Plantation forests also contain much less carbon, notes Palo, citing a recent study that showed carbon content of plantation forests in some Asian tropical countries was only 45 percent of that in the respective natural forests. Nor has the world community been able to properly account for the value of the enormous volumes of carbon stored in existing forests.

One recent estimate found that the northern Boreal forest provided 250 billion dollars a year in ecosystem services such as absorbing carbon emissions from the atmosphere and cleaning water. The good news is that deforestation, even in remote areas, is easily stopped. All it takes is access to some low-cost satellite imagery and governments that actually want to slow or halt deforestation. Costa Rica has nearly eliminated deforestation by making it illegal to convert forest into farmland, says Lovera.

Paraguay enacted similar laws in 2004, and then regularly checked satellite images of its forests, sending forestry officials and police to enforce the law where it was being violated. "Deforestation has been reduced by 85 percent in less than two years in the eastern part of the country," Lovera noted. The other part of the solution is to give control over forests to the local people. This community or model forest concept has proved to be sustainable in many parts of the world. India recently passed a bill returning the bulk of its forests back to local communities for management, she said.

However, economic interests pushing deforestation in countries like Brazil and Indonesia are so powerful, there may eventually be little natural forest left. "Governments are beginning to realize that their natural forests have enormous value left standing," Lovera said. "A moratorium or ban on deforestation is the only way to stop this."


This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ - International Federation of Environmental Journalists.
© 2007 IPS - Inter Press Service


Source: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0322-01.htm