Stimulus news isn’t all good for our region
Biomass: Money is directed to biofuels, but the woody debris from federal forests is left off Obama’s list. Walden and others want to change that.
By Keith Chu – The Bulletin – May 06, 2009
The White House unveiled its playbook to boost production of U.S. biofuels on Tuesday, but President Barack Obama’s strategy didn’t include biomass from federal forests.
On a conference call with reporters, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the plan, which includes a massive study of the environmental effects of turning crops into fuel, along with stimulus money to put those ideas into practice.
But Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, said the administration made a mistake by excluding woody debris from federal forests. As wildfires continue to burn large swaths of Central and Eastern Oregon forests, it makes more sense to cut the brush and undergrowth, which reduces fire danger, and use the debris created by the thinning for biofuel, Walden said. Money generated by biofuels could then be used to offset the costs of the thinning projects.
“It comes as a real disappointment but not a shock,” Walden said of the plan.
“The material is there,” Walden said. “Right now, it’s contributing to wildfire rather than renewable fuel. I’d rather have it contribute to renewable fuel.”
When asked about the role of biomass from federal lands, an EPA spokeswoman said current federal rules exclude that material from the definition of renewable biomass.
“Whether such fuel would be a part of the program — (the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act) specifically excluded feedstocks from federal lands,” EPA spokeswoman Cathy Milbourn said in an e-mail.
The White House also announced $786.5 million from the economic stimulus bill to fund pilot biodiesel refineries and research into creating more efficient fuels. Obama laid out his strategy in a memo to the secretaries.
“This memo, in my view, reflects President Obama’s commitment to rural America,” Vilsack said. “It is a firm commitment to making this industry an integral part of 21st-century America.”
While ethanol made from corn is the most prevalent source of biofuel right now, Obama’s plan would encourage the next generation of plant-based fuels, including cellulosic ethanol, and even fuel made from algae. The U.S. must produce 36 billion gallons of biofuels to be used in automobiles by 2022, under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. A pilot project is under way in Boardman, which is scheduled to open near the end of this year.
The technology to create fuel from forest debris is still developing, but experts including University of Washington forestry professor Kristiina Vogt, say there are several promising methods in the works.
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee is slated to debate biofuels next week as part of a larger climate change bill. Walden, who sits on that committee, said he wants to change the definition of renewable biomass to include material from federal forests as part of that bill. He has also introduced a bill with Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., that would redefine biomass.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, who is vice chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said it makes sense to put material from forests to work — as long as protections are in place.
“Here’s an opportunity to save fire suppression costs, to put people to work on the forests and help people develop a sustainable source of biomass with these forest products,” Blumenauer said. “It needs to be very carefully drawn so that it is clear that we’re not putting at risk wilderness areas.”
