A biofuel trade association welcomed an amendment to the proposed United States climate bill which it said would help level the playing field for advanced biofuel feedstocks.

Senator Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, has included the Advanced Green Biofuels amendment proposed by Democrat Senators Jeff Bingaman, Energy Committee chairman, and Tom Carper in the draft bill.

The amendment establishes greenhouse gas reduction targets for the fuels produced from renewable biomass and clarifies that algae and other renewable biomass which meet these standards qualify under the Renewable Fuel Standard Program of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The standard aims to increase the volume of renewable fuel required to be blended into gasoline from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons by 2022. The agency has also been proposing amendments to the standard itself.

Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the Algal Biomass Organization, said the amendment takes up “one of the biggest challenges to commercialization of algae-based biofuels” – parity with other feedstocks.

“Since algae-based fuels meet the requirements of the [standard] for emissions reductions and renewable biomass, it is only fair that they be treated the same as other feedstocks,” she urged.

The amendment also recognizes the potential of algae to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, create green jobs and increase the nation’s energy independence from fossil fuels.

-   Jen Balboa