![](media/image1.jpeg){width="6.699305555555555in" height="0.875in"}

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Julianne Fisher, 202-224-1638

Monday, January 28, 2008 Megan Smith, 202-224-1770

***\*\*Column Submission\*\****

**[The United States Fuel Policy Needs Room for Low Carbon
Fuels]{.underline}**

> **By U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD)**

This year, few are predicting much in the way of bipartisan agreement on
the thorniest issues of the day. Particularly in the area of energy
policy there could be a temptation for Congress to take a legislative
breather, having passed two comprehensive energy bills in the past three
years. Resting on our laurels will not do when the public remains
concerned with high energy costs and the growing recognition that the
United States needs to address the effects of global climate change
sooner rather than later.

In 2007 Congress put the country on a path to reduce gasoline demand by
passing new fuel efficiency requirements and boosting the amount of
renewable fuels blended into the transportation fuel supply. This year
the Senate will consider comprehensive legislation to cap carbon dioxide
emissions. Any successful policy to require emission cuts will need an
aggressive research, development and demonstration component to ensure
adequate supplies of energy to keep our economy growing. The good news
is that there is at least one existing technology offering an immediate
solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable fuels are the most promising near-term mechanisms available to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Pew Center on Global
Climate Change, a blend of 90 percent gasoline and 10 percent ethanol
could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3 percent in the near term,
with greater reductions to follow. This is because ethanol generates 30
percent less greenhouse gas emissions compared to an equivalent amount
of gasoline. In 2006, domestic ethanol use reduced carbon
dioxide-equivalent emissions by approximately 8 million tons and with
new energy efficient technologies employed at new and existing plants,
the positive life-cycle greenhouse gas profile of ethanol will reduce
carbon dioxide even further.

It is important that Congress support the continued development of low
carbon renewable fuels because in the United States, the transportation
sector accounts for approximately 25 percent of greenhouse gas
emissions. Replacing high carbon content oil with low carbon renewable
fuels must fit within an economy-wide plan to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions. This means adopting a low carbon fuels standard and
transitioning to a fuels policy based on its carbon content.

It is important to recognize that we are already moving toward a low
carbon fuel policy. The recently-passed Energy Bill includes a
requirement that ethanol derived from corn in conventional ethanol
facilities must achieve a twenty percent greenhouse gas emissions
reduction compared to baseline lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions in
order to count toward the annual renewable fuel standard. Even more
significantly, advanced biofuels derived from materials other than corn
starch must achieve a fifty percent greenhouse gas reduction requirement
with cellulosic biofuels achieving a sixty percent greenhouse gas
emissions reduction requirement. The challenge now facing policymakers
is that the market will need to do a lot more if a low carbon fuel
standard is to be a viable national fuels policy. That type of
transformative change is not rewarded through quick returns on
investment and, therefore, government has a role to play.

The goal of a low carbon fuel standard is to spur technological
innovation in the transportation fuels sector. The blending of
low-carbon fuels, including ethanol with gasoline and biodiesel with
diesel fuel is a bridge to developing even better low-greenhouse gas
fuels that will replace oil-based transportation fuels. Robust
development of available low-carbon fuels will spur the market to demand
E85 and advanced biofuels from cellulosic feedstocks resulting in nearly
zero greenhouse gas emissions over the full fuel cycle. We have to act
prudently so that any new policy does not pick winners and losers and
remains technology neutral in developing biofuels. In order to avoid
this political temptation we will need to pay particular attention in
determining how renewable fuels greenhouse gas emissions are measured
and verified. We can undo a lot of the positive gains of the existing
biofuels industry if we move too quickly in adopting a low carbon fuel
standard that fails to recognize different regions of the country will
produce different types of biofuels.

Investing in the development and deployment of low-carbon fuels and
improving the measurement of the greenhouse gas effects of these fuels
should be part of a comprehensive climate change and energy security
strategy. If we are deliberate and exhaustive in how we structure a
low-carbon fuels plan, the market will respond and provide benefits to
consumers in the form of competitively-priced and clean fuels. Let's not
fail to address this challenge by building on what we accomplished last
year.

**\###**