Obama gives PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE to expand biofuels

[Guest guest]

....and guess who stands to gain???

 

 

http://www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pdf/v1217525953.pdf

Al Gore’s Carbon Empire:

Cashing in on Climate Change

By Fred Lucas

Excerpt:

In the past year Gore has made major

investments in “green tech†enterprises. So

great are his commitments to private sector

problem-solving that one might almost

mistake Gore for a Republican. He has said,

“Climate change is a problem that’s not going

to be solved by politicians – I know a little

about that. Politicians have an important role

to play; but the underlying reality is going

to have its effects on the market, regardless

of public opinion and government action.â€

(“Long Term Life After Politics,†by Heather

Stewart, London Observer, November 13,

2004)

Letting the market solve problems since

government can’t? Gore wasn’t selling that

during his eight years as vice president! But

the problem is that Gore isn’t advocating

market solutions now either. His “greenâ€

investments will make him lots of money

only when Washington politicians pass

sweeping federal legislation that purports

to reduce carbon emissions by subsidizing

a market for alternative fuels.

 

****************

This is a must read to get a clearer picture of how the scam is being perpetrated under our noses...

 

http://windfarms.wordpress.com/2008/07/20/al-groe-and-maurice-strong-con-artists-extordinaire/

Creators of carbon credit scheme cashing in on it

By Judi McLeod

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

There’s an elephant in global warming’s living room that few in the mainstream media want to talk about: the creators of the carbon credit scheme are the ones cashing in on it.

The two cherub like choirboys singing loudest in the Holier Than Thou Global Warming Cathedral are Maurice Strong and Al Gore.

 

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true & contentid=2009/05/0145.xml

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRESIDENT OBAMA ISSUES PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE TO USDA TO EXPAND ACCESS TO BIOFUELS

 

 

 

 

USDA, EPA and DOE form Biofuels Interagency Working Group to increase energy independence

 

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 5, 2009) - President Obama issued a presidential directive today to Secretary Vilsack to aggressively accelerate the investment in and production of biofuels. On a conference call with Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Vilsack also announced that he will help lead an unprecedented interagency effort to increase America's energy independence and spur rural economic development.

"President Obama's announcement today demonstrates his deep commitment to establishing a permanent biofuels industry in America," said Vilsack. "Expanding our biofuels infrastructure provides a unique opportunity to spur rural economic development while reducing our dependence on foreign oil - one of the great challenges of the 21st century."

Increasing renewable fuels will reduce dependence on foreign oil by more than 297 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 160 million tons a year when fully phased in by 2022. On the call, Jackson announced that the EPA would establish four categories of renewable fuels, some of which would be produced form new sources. To address lifecyle analysis, the EPA said they are soliciting peer reviewed, scientific feedback to ensure that the best science available is utilized prior to implementation.

"Producing clean, renewable energy in our country is a powerful rural development tool that creates jobs domestically while generating new tax revenues for local, state, and federal governments," added Vilsack.

President Obama directed Secretary Vilsack to expedite and increase production of and investment in biofuel development efforts by:

 

Refinancing existing investments in renewable fuels to preserve jobs in ethanol and biodiesel plants, renewable electricity generation plants, and other supporting industries; and Making renewable energy financing opportunities from the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 available within 30 days. These opportunities include: Loan guarantees for the development, construction, and retrofitting of commercial scale biorefineries and grants to help pay for the development and construction costs of demonstration-scale biorefineries; Expedited funding to encourage biorefineries to replace the use of fossil fuels in plant operations by installing new biomass energy systems or producing new energy from renewable biomass; Expedited funding to biofuels producers to encourage production of next-generation biofuels from biomass and other non-corn feedstocks; Expansion of Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program, which has been renamed the Rural Energy for America Program, to include hydroelectric source technologies, energy audits, and higher loan guarantee limits; and Guidance and support for collection, harvest, storage, and transportation assistance for eligible materials for use in biomass conversion facilities.

The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will develop the nation's first comprehensive biofuels market development program. The increased collaboration between federal agencies will accelerate the production of and access to sustainable homegrown energy options by coordinating policies that impact the supply, secure transport, and distribution of biofuels, as well as identifying new policy options to improve the environmental sustainability of biofuels feedstock production.

The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will also work to develop policies to increase flexible fuel vehicle production and assist in retail marketing efforts while also taking into consideration land use, habitat conservation, crop management practices, water efficiency and water quality, and lifecycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Last Modified: 05/05/2009

********************

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4257226

 

 

 

Biofuel: Bad for the Environment?

Researchers Say Biofuels Could Do More Harm to the Planet Than Good

By ASHLEY PHILLIPS

Feb. 7, 2008 —

 

As the debate over what do about human-caused global warming increases and "green fever" sweeps the nation, many environmentalists and politicians have viewed biofuel as a logical replacement for fossil fuels.

But two new studies released Thursday call into question the global movement toward biofuel. According to these researchers, production of biofuel actually contributes to global warming, doing more harm than good.

The studies, one conducted by Minnesota-based Nature Conservancy and one by Princeton University, examined the same issue: What environmental impact does growing vegetation used for biofuel have on global warming?

U.S. demand for ethanol crops like corn, soy and switchgrass has resulted in the conversion across the globe of natural habitats like grasslands and rainforests into fuel-ready farmland, according to the studies. That development has released mass amounts of carbon into the air, researchers said.

"You ask the world's farmers to produce energy and that's going to take additional land and that land has to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, much of it is coming from our natural ecosystem. What's the consequence of that?" Joe Fargione, the regional science director for the Nature Conservancy and the lead author of one study, told ABCNews.com. "If you imagine a grassland and a cornfield, there's much more carbon in the grassland soil. When you convert a grassland into a cornfield, that carbon has to go somewhere. It goes into the air as carbon dioxide and contributes to global warming."

"Any biofuel that causes the clearing of natural ecosystems will increase global warming," he continued.

In the Princeton study, which was led by Timothy Searchinger, a German Marshall Fund fellow and a researcher at Princeton University, numbers told a striking story.

Past data that has outlined the benefits of biofuels didn't include the issues surrounding the impact of land use and the carbon released into the air as a result, both studies said.

Using models that calculated carbon emissions in various countries, the Princeton researchers found that the production of corn-based ethanol nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gasses for 167 years. Similarly, biofuels made from switchgrass, if grown on land originally intended for corn, increase carbon emissions by 50 percent.

"By excluding emissions from land-use change, most previous accountings were one-sided," the researchers wrote. "Because they counted the carbon benefits of using land for biofuels but not the carbon costs the carbon storage and sequestration sacrificed by diverting land from its existing uses."

"Twenty percent of CO2 emissions come from land use change and deforestation," Searchinger said. "We're simply transferring the problem ... from the fossil fuel side to the land-use side" when we produce biofuel.

Researchers in the Nature Conservancy study, which has been going on since March 2007, found nearly identical results. In this study, researchers compared the amount of carbon in the air in natural ecosystems and crop land around the world.

"There is three times as much carbon in the plants and soil as there in the air," Fargione said. "This is a globally significant concern that is dramatically contributing to global warming."

What researchers found was a vast creation of carbon in the conversion of peatlands for Indonesian palm oil plantations and soy production in the Amazon. The research led Fargione to conclude that biofuel, if farmed from converted land, is not a practical replacement for fossil fuels.

Fargione also argues that the findings call into question the energy bill recently passed by Congress, which calls for increased biofuel production 15 billion gallons by 2015.

"If you create a carbon tax or a low carbon fuel standard that penalizes fuel based on the amount of carbon it emits and then you miscalculate how much carbon biofuels are actually emitting, then biofuels are actually worse than the fossil fuels they replace," he said.

But according to the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade organization representing the U.S. ethanol industry, the studies failed to put biofuel production in context with fossil fuel production.

"Without biofuels and some increase in fuel economy, more and more petroleum will be required to meet the increasingly ravenous demand for liquid fuels around the world," Bob Dinneen, the association's president, said in a statement. "As the 'easy' sources of oil decline, development of exotic resources, like tar sands in Canada, are being pursued. Tar sands, by comparison, release some 300 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than traditional petroleum recovery."

For those committed to biofuel, there is hope, both sets of researchers said, in biofuel made from abandoned, depleted farmland and biomass waste, like unused parts of a corn plant.

"The holes from your Cheerios could be used for energy," Fargione said.

Still, Fargione maintains that biofuels aren't the only answer in the fight against global warming.

"It's worth doing, but it's not a silver bullet," he said.

 

 

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

 

****************

 

http://www.treehugger.com2008/05/biofuel-comparison-chart.php

Biofuel Comparison Chart: The "Good," the Bad and the (Really) Ugly

 

*****************

http://tennesseefree.com/2008/07/07/100-million-people-starving-al-gores-biofuel-boom-forces-global-food-prices-up-75/

100 Million people starving: Al Gore’s Biofuel boom forces global food prices up 75%

 

A ’secret report’, an unpublished assessment by an ‘internationally-respected economist’ at the World Bank (uncovered and reported by The Guardian) will give world leaders painful evidence that the Biofuels campaign (ethanol and other ‘food-based’ biofuels) are starving the world’s poorest citizens…

 

******************

http://www.workers.org/2008/world/biofuel_0717/

Millions go hungry to feed biofuel biz

By LeiLani Dowell

Published Jul 9, 2008 11:18 PM

At a time of increased hunger worldwide, a confidential World Bank report has revealed that the overwhelmingly largest factor in rising food prices is the production of ethanol for fuel production.

 

The new Internet Explorer® 8 - Faster, safer, easier. Optimized for Get it Now for Free!

[Guest guest]

THis wont open in my pc due to " script error " but I can access it on the

website, nothing you sent today will open on my pc due to " script error " even on

the website the text is full of symbols, like Euros etc - any idea why this is?

 

Jane

 

 

 

, Bea Bernhausen <beabernhausen

wrote:

>

> ...and guess who stands to gain???

>  

>  

> http://www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pdf/v1217525953.pdf

> Al Gore’s Carbon Empire:

> Cashing in on Climate Change

> By Fred Lucas

> Excerpt:

> In the past year Gore has made major

> investments in “green tech†enterprises. So

> great are his commitments to private sector

> problem-solving that one might almost

> mistake Gore for a Republican. He has said,

> “Climate change is a problem that’s not going

> to be solved by politicians †" I know a little

> about that. Politicians have an important role

> to play; but the underlying reality is going

> to have its effects on the market, regardless

> of public opinion and government action.â€

> (“Long Term Life After Politics,†by Heather

> Stewart, London Observer, November 13,

> 2004)

> Letting the market solve problems since

> government can’t? Gore wasn’t selling that

> during his eight years as vice president! But

> the problem is that Gore isn’t advocating

> market solutions now either. His “greenâ€

> investments will make him lots of money

> only when Washington politicians pass

> sweeping federal legislation that purports

> to reduce carbon emissions by subsidizing

> a market for alternative fuels.

>  

> ****************

> This is a must read to get a clearer picture of how the scam is being

perpetrated under our noses...

>  

>

http://windfarms.wordpress.com/2008/07/20/al-groe-and-maurice-strong-con-artists\

-extordinaire/

> Creators of carbon credit scheme cashing in on it

> By Judi McLeod

> Tuesday, March 13, 2007

> There’s an elephant in global warming’s living room that few in the

mainstream media want to talk about: the creators of the carbon credit scheme

are the ones cashing in on it.

> The two cherub like choirboys singing loudest in the Holier Than Thou Global

Warming Cathedral are Maurice Strong and Al Gore.

>  

>

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true & contentid=2009/05/014\

5.xml

>

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>

>

>

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>

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> PRESIDENT OBAMA ISSUES PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE TO USDA TO EXPAND ACCESS TO

BIOFUELS

>

>

>

>  

> USDA, EPA and DOE form Biofuels Interagency Working Group to increase energy

independence

>

>

>

>  

>

> WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 5, 2009) - President Obama issued a presidential

directive today to Secretary Vilsack to aggressively accelerate the investment

in and production of biofuels. On a conference call with Energy Secretary

Stephen Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson,

Vilsack also announced that he will help lead an unprecedented interagency

effort to increase America's energy independence and spur rural economic

development.

> " President Obama's announcement today demonstrates his deep commitment to

establishing a permanent biofuels industry in America, " said Vilsack. " Expanding

our biofuels infrastructure provides a unique opportunity to spur rural economic

development while reducing our dependence on foreign oil - one of the great

challenges of the 21st century. "

> Increasing renewable fuels will reduce dependence on foreign oil by more than

297 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of

160 million tons a year when fully phased in by 2022. On the call, Jackson

announced that the EPA would establish four categories of renewable fuels, some

of which would be produced form new sources. To address lifecyle analysis, the

EPA said they are soliciting peer reviewed, scientific feedback to ensure that

the best science available is utilized prior to implementation.

> " Producing clean, renewable energy in our country is a powerful rural

development tool that creates jobs domestically while generating new tax

revenues for local, state, and federal governments, " added Vilsack.

> President Obama directed Secretary Vilsack to expedite and increase production

of and investment in biofuel development efforts by:

>

> Refinancing existing investments in renewable fuels to preserve jobs in

ethanol and biodiesel plants, renewable electricity generation plants, and other

supporting industries; and

> Making renewable energy financing opportunities from the Food, Conservation

and Energy Act of 2008 available within 30 days. These opportunities include:

> Loan guarantees for the development, construction, and retrofitting of

commercial scale biorefineries and grants to help pay for the development and

construction costs of demonstration-scale biorefineries;

> Expedited funding to encourage biorefineries to replace the use of fossil

fuels in plant operations by installing new biomass energy systems or producing

new energy from renewable biomass;

> Expedited funding to biofuels producers to encourage production of

next-generation biofuels from biomass and other non-corn feedstocks;

> Expansion of Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements

Program, which has been renamed the Rural Energy for America Program, to include

hydroelectric source technologies, energy audits, and higher loan guarantee

limits; and

> Guidance and support for collection, harvest, storage, and transportation

assistance for eligible materials for use in biomass conversion facilities.

> The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will develop the nation's first

comprehensive biofuels market development program. The increased collaboration

between federal agencies will accelerate the production of and access to

sustainable homegrown energy options by coordinating policies that impact the

supply, secure transport, and distribution of biofuels, as well as identifying

new policy options to improve the environmental sustainability of biofuels

feedstock production.

> The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will also work to develop policies to

increase flexible fuel vehicle production and assist in retail marketing efforts

while also taking into consideration land use, habitat conservation, crop

management practices, water efficiency and water quality, and lifecycle

assessments of greenhouse gas emissions.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

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document.write(lastmoddate)

> Last Modified: 05/05/2009

> ********************

> http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4257226

>

>

>

> Biofuel: Bad for the Environment?

> Researchers Say Biofuels Could Do More Harm to the Planet Than Good

> By ASHLEY PHILLIPS

> Feb. 7, 2008 †"

>

> As the debate over what do about human-caused global warming increases and

" green fever " sweeps the nation, many environmentalists and politicians have

viewed biofuel as a logical replacement for fossil fuels.

> But two new studies released Thursday call into question the global movement

toward biofuel. According to these researchers, production of biofuel actually

contributes to global warming, doing more harm than good.

> The studies, one conducted by Minnesota-based Nature Conservancy and one by

Princeton University, examined the same issue: What environmental impact does

growing vegetation used for biofuel have on global warming?

> U.S. demand for ethanol crops like corn, soy and switchgrass has resulted in

the conversion across the globe of natural habitats like grasslands and

rainforests into fuel-ready farmland, according to the studies. That

development has released mass amounts of carbon into the air, researchers said.

> " You ask the world's farmers to produce energy and that's going to take

additional land and that land has to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, much of

it is coming from our natural ecosystem. What's the consequence of that? " Joe

Fargione, the regional science director for the Nature Conservancy and the lead

author of one study, told ABCNews.com. " If you imagine a grassland and a

cornfield, there's much more carbon in the grassland soil. When you convert a

grassland into a cornfield, that carbon has to go somewhere. It goes into the

air as carbon dioxide and contributes to global warming. "

> " Any biofuel that causes the clearing of natural ecosystems will increase

global warming, " he continued.

> In the Princeton study, which was led by Timothy Searchinger, a German

Marshall Fund fellow and a researcher at Princeton University, numbers told a

striking story.

> Past data that has outlined the benefits of biofuels didn't include the issues

surrounding the impact of land use and the carbon released into the air as a

result, both studies said.

> Using models that calculated carbon emissions in various countries, the

Princeton researchers found that the production of corn-based ethanol nearly

doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gasses for

167 years. Similarly, biofuels made from switchgrass, if grown on land

originally intended for corn, increase carbon emissions by 50 percent.

> " By excluding emissions from land-use change, most previous accountings were

one-sided, " the researchers wrote. " Because they counted the carbon benefits of

using land for biofuels but not the carbon costs the carbon storage and

sequestration sacrificed by diverting land from its existing uses. "

> " Twenty percent of CO2 emissions come from land use change and deforestation, "

Searchinger said. " We're simply transferring the problem ... from the fossil

fuel side to the land-use side " when we produce biofuel.

> Researchers in the Nature Conservancy study, which has been going on since

March 2007, found nearly identical results. In this study, researchers compared

the amount of carbon in the air in natural ecosystems and crop land around the

world.

> " There is three times as much carbon in the plants and soil as there in the

air, " Fargione said. " This is a globally significant concern that is

dramatically contributing to global warming. "

> What researchers found was a vast creation of carbon in the conversion of

peatlands for Indonesian palm oil plantations and soy production in the Amazon.

The research led Fargione to conclude that biofuel, if farmed from converted

land, is not a practical replacement for fossil fuels.

> Fargione also argues that the findings call into question the energy bill

recently passed by Congress, which calls for increased biofuel production 15

billion gallons by 2015.

> " If you create a carbon tax or a low carbon fuel standard that penalizes fuel

based on the amount of carbon it emits and then you miscalculate how much carbon

biofuels are actually emitting, then biofuels are actually worse than the fossil

fuels they replace, " he said.

> But according to the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade organization

representing the U.S. ethanol industry, the studies failed to put biofuel

production in context with fossil fuel production.

> " Without biofuels and some increase in fuel economy, more and more petroleum

will be required to meet the increasingly ravenous demand for liquid fuels

around the world, " Bob Dinneen, the association's president, said in a

statement. " As the 'easy' sources of oil decline, development of exotic

resources, like tar sands in Canada, are being pursued. Tar sands, by

comparison, release some 300 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than

traditional petroleum recovery. "

> For those committed to biofuel, there is hope, both sets of researchers said,

in biofuel made from abandoned, depleted farmland and biomass waste, like unused

parts of a corn plant.

> " The holes from your Cheerios could be used for energy, " Fargione said.

> Still, Fargione maintains that biofuels aren't the only answer in the fight

against global warming.

> " It's worth doing, but it's not a silver bullet, " he said.

>

>

> Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

>  

> ****************

>  

> http://www.treehugger.com2008/05/biofuel-comparison-chart.php

> Biofuel Comparison Chart: The " Good, " the Bad and the (Really) Ugly

>  

> *****************

>

http://tennesseefree.com/2008/07/07/100-million-people-starving-al-gores-biofuel\

-boom-forces-global-food-prices-up-75/

> 100 Million people starving: Al Gore’s Biofuel boom forces global food

prices up 75%

>  

> A ’secret report’, an unpublished assessment by an

‘internationally-respected economist’ at the World Bank (uncovered and

reported by The Guardian) will give world leaders painful evidence that the

Biofuels campaign (ethanol and other ‘food-based’ biofuels) are starving the

world’s poorest citizens…

>  

> ******************

> http://www.workers.org/2008/world/biofuel_0717/

> Millions go hungry to feed biofuel biz

> By LeiLani Dowell

>

> Published Jul 9, 2008 11:18 PM

> At a time of increased hunger worldwide, a confidential World Bank report has

revealed that the overwhelmingly largest factor in rising food prices is the

production of ethanol for fuel production.

>

> var s_account = " wdgnewabcnews,wdgasec " ;

>

>

>

________________

> Looking for the perfect gift? Give the gift of Flickr!

>

> http://www.flickr.com/gift/

>

[Guest guest]

Hmmmmmmmm...........that is mighty strange....anyone else have that problem? And is it just my messages? Yahell has been giving me grief for weeks now with all kinds of error messages....--- On Wed, 5/6/09, Jane <highfield1 wrote:

Jane <highfield1 Re: Obama gives PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE to expand biofuels Received: Wednesday, May 6, 2009, 11:16 PM

 

 

THis wont open in my pc due to "script error" but I can access it on the website, nothing you sent today will open on my pc due to "script error" even on the website the text is full of symbols, like Euros etc - any idea why this is?Jane, Bea Bernhausen <beabernhausen@ ...> wrote:>> ...and guess who stands to gain??? >  >  > http://www.capitalr esearch.org/ pubs/pdf/ v1217525953. pdf> Al Gore’s Carbon Empire:> Cashing in on Climate Change> By Fred Lucas> Excerpt:> In the past year Gore has made major> investments in “green tech� enterprises. So> great are his commitments to private

sector> problem-solving that one might almost> mistake Gore for a Republican. He has said,> “Climate change is a problem that’s not going> to be solved by politicians â€" I know a little> about that. Politicians have an important role> to play; but the underlying reality is going> to have its effects on the market, regardless> of public opinion and government action.â€�> (“Long Term Life After Politics,â€� by Heather> Stewart, London Observer, November 13,> 2004)> Letting the market solve problems since> government can’t? Gore wasn’t selling that> during his eight years as vice president! But> the problem is that Gore isn’t advocating> market solutions now either. His “greenâ€�> investments will make him lots of money> only when Washington politicians pass>

sweeping federal legislation that purports> to reduce carbon emissions by subsidizing> a market for alternative fuels.>  > ************ ****> This is a must read to get a clearer picture of how the scam is being perpetrated under our noses...>  > http://windfarms. wordpress. com/2008/ 07/20/al- groe-and- maurice-strong- con-artists- extordinaire/> Creators of carbon credit scheme cashing in on it> By Judi McLeod> Tuesday, March 13, 2007> There’s an elephant in global warming’s living room that few in the mainstream media want to talk about: the creators of the carbon credit scheme are the ones cashing in on it.> The two cherub like choirboys singing loudest in the Holier Than Thou Global Warming Cathedral are

Maurice Strong and Al Gore.> Â > http://www.usda. gov/wps/portal/ usdahome? contentidonly= true & contentid= 2009/05/0145. xml> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Â > PRESIDENT OBAMA ISSUES PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE TO USDA TO EXPAND ACCESS TO BIOFUELS> > > > Â > USDA, EPA and DOE form Biofuels Interagency Working Group to increase energy independence > > > > Â > > WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 5, 2009) - President Obama issued a presidential directive today to Secretary Vilsack to

aggressively accelerate the investment in and production of biofuels. On a conference call with Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Vilsack also announced that he will help lead an unprecedented interagency effort to increase America's energy independence and spur rural economic development. > "President Obama's announcement today demonstrates his deep commitment to establishing a permanent biofuels industry in America," said Vilsack. "Expanding our biofuels infrastructure provides a unique opportunity to spur rural economic development while reducing our dependence on foreign oil - one of the great challenges of the 21st century." > Increasing renewable fuels will reduce dependence on foreign oil by more than 297 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 160 million tons a year when fully phased in by 2022. On the call, Jackson announced that the

EPA would establish four categories of renewable fuels, some of which would be produced form new sources. To address lifecyle analysis, the EPA said they are soliciting peer reviewed, scientific feedback to ensure that the best science available is utilized prior to implementation. > "Producing clean, renewable energy in our country is a powerful rural development tool that creates jobs domestically while generating new tax revenues for local, state, and federal governments, " added Vilsack. > President Obama directed Secretary Vilsack to expedite and increase production of and investment in biofuel development efforts by: > > Refinancing existing investments in renewable fuels to preserve jobs in ethanol and biodiesel plants, renewable electricity generation plants, and other supporting industries; and > Making renewable energy financing opportunities from the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 available within

30 days. These opportunities include: > Loan guarantees for the development, construction, and retrofitting of commercial scale biorefineries and grants to help pay for the development and construction costs of demonstration- scale biorefineries; > Expedited funding to encourage biorefineries to replace the use of fossil fuels in plant operations by installing new biomass energy systems or producing new energy from renewable biomass; > Expedited funding to biofuels producers to encourage production of next-generation biofuels from biomass and other non-corn feedstocks; > Expansion of Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program, which has been renamed the Rural Energy for America Program, to include hydroelectric source technologies, energy audits, and higher loan guarantee limits; and > Guidance and support for collection, harvest, storage, and transportation assistance for eligible materials

for use in biomass conversion facilities. > The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will develop the nation's first comprehensive biofuels market development program. The increased collaboration between federal agencies will accelerate the production of and access to sustainable homegrown energy options by coordinating policies that impact the supply, secure transport, and distribution of biofuels, as well as identifying new policy options to improve the environmental sustainability of biofuels feedstock production. > The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will also work to develop policies to increase flexible fuel vehicle production and assist in retail marketing efforts while also taking into consideration land use, habitat conservation, crop management practices, water efficiency and water quality, and lifecycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions. > > > > > > > > >

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Â > News Releases> > > > > > Â > Latest Releases> > > > > > Â > Transcripts and Speeches> > > > > > Â > Agency News Releases> > > > > > Â > Radio and TV Broadcasts> > > > > > Â > How to Get Information> > > > > > Â > Subscriptions> > > > > > Â > RSS Feeds> > > > Â > Reports & Publications> >

> > > > Â > Agency Reports> > > > > > Â > USDA Publications> > > > Â > Events> > > > > > Â > Events by Date> > > > Â > Image and Video Libraries> > > > > > Â > Secretary's Photo Gallery> > > > > > Â > Broadcast Media & Technology Center> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > document.write( lastmoddate)> Last Modified:

05/05/2009 > ************ ********> http://abcnews. go.com/print? id=4257226> > > > Biofuel: Bad for the Environment?> Researchers Say Biofuels Could Do More Harm to the Planet Than Good > By ASHLEY PHILLIPS> Feb. 7, 2008 â€" > > As the debate over what do about human-caused global warming increases and "green fever" sweeps the nation, many environmentalists and politicians have viewed biofuel as a logical replacement for fossil fuels. > But two new studies released Thursday call into question the global movement toward biofuel. According to these researchers, production of biofuel actually contributes to global warming, doing more harm than good. > The studies, one conducted by Minnesota-based Nature Conservancy and one by Princeton University, examined the same issue: What

environmental impact does growing vegetation used for biofuel have on global warming? > U.S. demand for ethanol crops like corn, soy and switchgrass has resulted in the conversion across the globe of natural habitats like grasslands and rainforests into fuel-ready farmland, according to the studies. That development has released mass amounts of carbon into the air, researchers said. > "You ask the world's farmers to produce energy and that's going to take additional land and that land has to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, much of it is coming from our natural ecosystem. What's the consequence of that?" Joe Fargione, the regional science director for the Nature Conservancy and the lead author of one study, told ABCNews.com. "If you imagine a grassland and a cornfield, there's much more carbon in the grassland soil. When you convert a grassland into a cornfield, that carbon has to go somewhere. It goes into the air as carbon dioxide and

contributes to global warming." > "Any biofuel that causes the clearing of natural ecosystems will increase global warming," he continued. > In the Princeton study, which was led by Timothy Searchinger, a German Marshall Fund fellow and a researcher at Princeton University, numbers told a striking story. > Past data that has outlined the benefits of biofuels didn't include the issues surrounding the impact of land use and the carbon released into the air as a result, both studies said. > Using models that calculated carbon emissions in various countries, the Princeton researchers found that the production of corn-based ethanol nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gasses for 167 years. Similarly, biofuels made from switchgrass, if grown on land originally intended for corn, increase carbon emissions by 50 percent. > "By excluding emissions from land-use change, most previous

accountings were one-sided," the researchers wrote. "Because they counted the carbon benefits of using land for biofuels but not the carbon costs the carbon storage and sequestration sacrificed by diverting land from its existing uses." > "Twenty percent of CO2 emissions come from land use change and deforestation, " Searchinger said. "We're simply transferring the problem ... from the fossil fuel side to the land-use side" when we produce biofuel. > Researchers in the Nature Conservancy study, which has been going on since March 2007, found nearly identical results. In this study, researchers compared the amount of carbon in the air in natural ecosystems and crop land around the world. > "There is three times as much carbon in the plants and soil as there in the air," Fargione said. "This is a globally significant concern that is dramatically contributing to global warming." > What researchers found was a vast creation of

carbon in the conversion of peatlands for Indonesian palm oil plantations and soy production in the Amazon. The research led Fargione to conclude that biofuel, if farmed from converted land, is not a practical replacement for fossil fuels. > Fargione also argues that the findings call into question the energy bill recently passed by Congress, which calls for increased biofuel production 15 billion gallons by 2015. > "If you create a carbon tax or a low carbon fuel standard that penalizes fuel based on the amount of carbon it emits and then you miscalculate how much carbon biofuels are actually emitting, then biofuels are actually worse than the fossil fuels they replace," he said. > But according to the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade organization representing the U.S. ethanol industry, the studies failed to put biofuel production in context with fossil fuel production. > "Without biofuels and some increase in fuel

economy, more and more petroleum will be required to meet the increasingly ravenous demand for liquid fuels around the world," Bob Dinneen, the association' s president, said in a statement. "As the 'easy' sources of oil decline, development of exotic resources, like tar sands in Canada, are being pursued. Tar sands, by comparison, release some 300 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than traditional petroleum recovery." > For those committed to biofuel, there is hope, both sets of researchers said, in biofuel made from abandoned, depleted farmland and biomass waste, like unused parts of a corn plant. > "The holes from your Cheerios could be used for energy," Fargione said. > Still, Fargione maintains that biofuels aren't the only answer in the fight against global warming. > "It's worth doing, but it's not a silver bullet," he said. > > > Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures>

 > ************ ****>  > http://www.treehugg er.com 2008/05/biofuel- comparison- chart.php> Biofuel Comparison Chart: The "Good," the Bad and the (Really) Ugly>  > ************ *****> http://tennesseefre e.com/2008/ 07/07/100- million-people- starving- al-gores- biofuel-boom- forces-global- food-prices- up-75/> 100 Million people starving: Al Gore’s Biofuel boom forces global food prices up 75% >  > A ’secret report’, an unpublished assessment by an ‘internationally- respected economist’ at the World Bank (uncovered and reported by The Guardian) will

give world leaders painful evidence that the Biofuels campaign (ethanol and other ‘food-based’ biofuels) are starving the world’s poorest citizens…>  > ************ ******> http://www.workers. org/2008/ world/biofuel_ 0717/> Millions go hungry to feed biofuel biz> By LeiLani Dowell > > Published Jul 9, 2008 11:18 PM > At a time of increased hunger worldwide, a confidential World Bank report has revealed that the overwhelmingly largest factor in rising food prices is the production of ethanol for fuel production.> > var s_account = "wdgnewabcnews, wdgasec";> > > > > > > > > > ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _> Looking for the perfect gift? Give the gift of

Flickr! > > http://www.flickr. com/gift/>

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Worked ok for me Bea. Have sent Jane a copy of the pdf..

At 03:59 PM 7/05/2009, you wrote:

 

Hmmmmmmmm...........that is

mighty strange....anyone else have that problem? And is it just my

messages? Yahell has been giving me grief for weeks now with all kinds of

error messages....

--- On Wed, 5/6/09, Jane <highfield1

wrote:

 

Jane <highfield1

Re: Obama gives PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE

to expand biofuels

 

Received: Wednesday, May 6, 2009, 11:16 PM

 

THis wont open in my pc due to " script error " but I can

access it on the website, nothing you sent today will open on my pc due

to " script error " even on the website the text is full of

symbols, like Euros etc - any idea why this is?

Jane

--- In

@

. com, Bea Bernhausen <beabernhausen@ ...>

wrote:

>

> ...and guess who stands to gain???

> Â

> Â

>

 

http://www.capitalr esearch.org/ pubs/pdf/ v1217525953. pdf

> Al Goreâ€ââ„¢s Carbon Empire:

> Cashing in on Climate Change

> By Fred Lucas

> Excerpt:

> In the past year Gore has made major

> investments in “green techâ€ï¿½ en½ enterprises. So

> great are his commitments to private sector

> problem-solving that one might almost

> mistake Gore for a Republican. He has said,

> “Climate change e is a problem that’s not going

> to be solved bd by politicians †" I know a little

> about that. Politiciians have an important role

> to play; but the underlying reality is going

> to have its effects on the market, regardless

> of public opinion and government action.â€ï¿½

> (â“Long Term Life After Politics,â€ï¿½ by Heathther

> Stewart, London Observer, November 13,

> 2004)

> Letting the market solve problems since

> government can‬™t? Gore wasn’t selling that

> during ring his eight years as vice president! But

> the problem is that Gore isn̢۪t advocating

> market solutions now either. H. His “greenâ€ï¿½

> investments wts will make him lots of money

> only when Washington politicians pass

> sweeping federal legislation that purports

> to reduce carbon emissions by subsidizing

> a market for alternative fuels.

> Â

> ************ ****

> This is a must read to get a clearer picture of how the scam is

being perpetrated under our noses...

> Â

>

 

http://windfarms. wordpress. com/2008/ 07/20/al- groe-and-

maurice-strong- con-artists- extordinaire/

> Creators of carbon credit scheme cashing in on it

> By Judi McLeod

> Tuesday, March 13, 2007

> There’s an elephant in global warmingÃng’s living room

that few in the mainstream media want to to talk about: the creators of

the carbon credit scheme are the ones cashing in on it.

> The two cherub like choirboys singing loudest in the Holier Than

Thou Global Warming Cathedral are Maurice Strong and Al Gore.

> Â

>

 

http://www.usda. gov/wps/portal/ usdahome? contentidonly=

true & contentid= 2009/05/0145. xml

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

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>

>

>

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> Â

> PRESIDENT OBAMA ISSUES PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE TO USDA TO EXPAND

ACCESS TO BIOFUELS

>

>

>

> Â

> USDA, EPA and DOE form Biofuels Interagency Working Group to

increase energy independence

>

>

>

> Â

>

> WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 5, 2009) - President Obama issued a

presidential directive today to Secretary Vilsack to aggressively

accelerate the investment in and production of biofuels. On a conference

call with Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and Environmental Protection

Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Vilsack also announced that he will

help lead an unprecedented interagency effort to increase America's

energy independence and spur rural economic development.

> " President Obama's announcement today demonstrates his deep

commitment to establishing a permanent biofuels industry in

America, " said Vilsack. " Expanding our biofuels infrastructure

provides a unique opportunity to spur rural economic development while

reducing our dependence on foreign oil - one of the great challenges of

the 21st century. "

> Increasing renewable fuels will reduce dependence on foreign oil

by more than 297 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas

emissions by an average of 160 million tons a year when fully phased in

by 2022. On the call, Jackson announced that the EPA would establish four

categories of renewable fuels, some of which would be produced form new

sources. To address lifecyle analysis, the EPA said they are soliciting

peer reviewed, scientific feedback to ensure that the best science

available is utilized prior to implementation.

> " Producing clean, renewable energy in our country is a

powerful rural development tool that creates jobs domestically while

generating new tax revenues for local, state, and federal governments,

" added Vilsack.

> President Obama directed Secretary Vilsack to expedite and

increase production of and investment in biofuel development efforts by:

 

>

> Refinancing existing investments in renewable fuels to preserve

jobs in ethanol and biodiesel plants, renewable electricity generation

plants, and other supporting industries; and

> Making renewable energy financing opportunities from the Food,

Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 available within 30 days. These

opportunities include:

> Loan guarantees for the development, construction, and

retrofitting of commercial scale biorefineries and grants to help pay for

the development and construction costs of demonstration- scale

biorefineries;

> Expedited funding to encourage biorefineries to replace the use

of fossil fuels in plant operations by installing new biomass energy

systems or producing new energy from renewable biomass;

> Expedited funding to biofuels producers to encourage production

of next-generation biofuels from biomass and other non-corn feedstocks;

 

> Expansion of Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency

Improvements Program, which has been renamed the Rural Energy for America

Program, to include hydroelectric source technologies, energy audits, and

higher loan guarantee limits; and

> Guidance and support for collection, harvest, storage, and

transportation assistance for eligible materials for use in biomass

conversion facilities.

> The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will develop the nation's

first comprehensive biofuels market development program. The increased

collaboration between federal agencies will accelerate the production of

and access to sustainable homegrown energy options by coordinating

policies that impact the supply, secure transport, and distribution of

biofuels, as well as identifying new policy options to improve the

environmental sustainability of biofuels feedstock production.

> The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will also work to develop

policies to increase flexible fuel vehicle production and assist in

retail marketing efforts while also taking into consideration land use,

habitat conservation, crop management practices, water efficiency and

water quality, and lifecycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions.

 

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

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>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> News Releases

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> Latest Releases

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> Transcripts and Speeches

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> Agency News Releases

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> Radio and TV Broadcasts

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> How to Get Information

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> Subscriptions

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> RSS Feeds

>

>

>

> Â

> Reports & Publications

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> Agency Reports

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> USDA Publications

>

>

>

> Â

> Events

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> Events by Date

>

>

>

> Â

> Image and Video Libraries

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> Secretary's Photo Gallery

>

>

>

>

>

> Â

> Broadcast Media & Technology Center

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

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>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> document.write( lastmoddate)

> Last Modified: 05/05/2009

> ************ ********

> http://abcnews.

go.com/print? id=4257226

>

>

>

> Biofuel: Bad for the Environment?

> Researchers Say Biofuels Could Do More Harm to the Planet Than

Good

> By ASHLEY PHILLIPS

> Feb. 7, 2008 †"

>

> As the debate over what do about human--caused global warming

increases and " green fever " sweeps the nation, many

environmentalists and politicians have viewed biofuel as a logical

replacement for fossil fuels.

> But two new studies released Thursday call into question the

global movement toward biofuel. According to these researchers,

production of biofuel actually contributes to global warming, doing more

harm than good.

> The studies, one conducted by Minnesota-based Nature Conservancy

and one by Princeton University, examined the same issue: What

environmental impact does growing vegetation used for biofuel have on

global warming?

> U.S. demand for ethanol crops like corn, soy and switchgrass has

resulted in the conversion across the globe of natural habitats like

grasslands and rainforests into fuel-ready farmland, according to the

studies. That development has released mass amounts of carbon into the

air, researchers said.

> " You ask the world's farmers to produce energy and that's

going to take additional land and that land has to come from somewhere.

Unfortunately, much of it is coming from our natural ecosystem. What's

the consequence of that? " Joe Fargione, the regional science

director for the Nature Conservancy and the lead author of one study,

told ABCNews.com. " If you imagine a grassland and a cornfield,

there's much more carbon in the grassland soil. When you convert a

grassland into a cornfield, that carbon has to go somewhere. It goes into

the air as carbon dioxide and contributes to global warming. "

> " Any biofuel that causes the clearing of natural ecosystems

will increase global warming, " he continued.

> In the Princeton study, which was led by Timothy Searchinger, a

German Marshall Fund fellow and a researcher at Princeton University,

numbers told a striking story.

> Past data that has outlined the benefits of biofuels didn't

include the issues surrounding the impact of land use and the carbon

released into the air as a result, both studies said.

> Using models that calculated carbon emissions in various

countries, the Princeton researchers found that the production of

corn-based ethanol nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and

increases greenhouse gasses for 167 years. Similarly, biofuels made from

switchgrass, if grown on land originally intended for corn, increase

carbon emissions by 50 percent.

> " By excluding emissions from land-use change, most previous

accountings were one-sided, " the researchers wrote. " Because

they counted the carbon benefits of using land for biofuels but not the

carbon costs the carbon storage and sequestration sacrificed by diverting

land from its existing uses. "

> " Twenty percent of CO2 emissions come from land use change

and deforestation, " Searchinger said. " We're simply

transferring the problem ... from the fossil fuel side to the land-use

side " when we produce biofuel.

> Researchers in the Nature Conservancy study, which has been

going on since March 2007, found nearly identical results. In this study,

researchers compared the amount of carbon in the air in natural

ecosystems and crop land around the world.

> " There is three times as much carbon in the plants and soil

as there in the air, " Fargione said. " This is a globally

significant concern that is dramatically contributing to global

warming. "

> What researchers found was a vast creation of carbon in the

conversion of peatlands for Indonesian palm oil plantations and soy

production in the Amazon. The research led Fargione to conclude that

biofuel, if farmed from converted land, is not a practical replacement

for fossil fuels.

> Fargione also argues that the findings call into question the

energy bill recently passed by Congress, which calls for increased

biofuel production 15 billion gallons by 2015.

> " If you create a carbon tax or a low carbon fuel standard

that penalizes fuel based on the amount of carbon it emits and then you

miscalculate how much carbon biofuels are actually emitting, then

biofuels are actually worse than the fossil fuels they replace, " he

said.

> But according to the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade

organization representing the U.S. ethanol industry, the studies failed

to put biofuel production in context with fossil fuel production.

> " Without biofuels and some increase in fuel economy, more

and more petroleum will be required to meet the increasingly ravenous

demand for liquid fuels around the world, " Bob Dinneen, the

association' s president, said in a statement. " As the 'easy'

sources of oil decline, development of exotic resources, like tar sands

in Canada, are being pursued. Tar sands, by comparison, release some 300

percent more greenhouse gas emissions than traditional petroleum

recovery. "

> For those committed to biofuel, there is hope, both sets of

researchers said, in biofuel made from abandoned, depleted farmland and

biomass waste, like unused parts of a corn plant.

> " The holes from your Cheerios could be used for

energy, " Fargione said.

> Still, Fargione maintains that biofuels aren't the only answer

in the fight against global warming.

> " It's worth doing, but it's not a silver bullet, " he

said.

>

>

> Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

> Â

> ************ ****

> Â

>

 

http://www.treehugg er.com 2008/05/biofuel- comparison-

chart.php

> Biofuel Comparison Chart: The " Good, " the Bad and the

(Really) Ugly

> Â

> ************ *****

>

 

http://tennesseefre e.com/2008/ 07/07/100- million-people- starving-

al-gores- biofuel-boom- forces-global- food-prices- up-75/

> 100 Million people starving: Al Goreâ€â„„¢s Biofuel boom forces

global food prices up 75%

> Â

> A ’secret report’, an u¢, an unpublished assessment by an

‘internationally- respecteded economist’ at the World Bank

(uncovered and reporterted by The Guardian) will give world leaders

painful evidence that the Biofuels campaign (ethanol and other

‘food-based’ biofuels) aels) are starving the world’s poorest

citizensâ₢€¦

> Â

> ************ ******

>

 

http://www.workers. org/2008/ world/biofuel_ 0717/

> Millions go hungry to feed biofuel biz

> By LeiLani Dowell

>

> Published Jul 9, 2008 11:18 PM

> At a time of increased hunger worldwide, a confidential World

Bank report has revealed that the overwhelmingly largest factor in rising

food prices is the production of ethanol for fuel production.

>

> var s_account = " wdgnewabcnews, wdgasec " ;

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________

_

> Looking for the perfect gift? Give the gift of Flickr!

>

> http://www.flickr.

com/gift/

>

 

 

 

 

 

Canada Toolbar

: Search from anywhere on

the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

 

 

 

 

 

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Virus Database (VPS): 090506-0, 06/05/2009Tested on: 7/05/2009 4:02:43 PMavast! - copyright © 1988-2009 ALWIL Software.

[Guest guest]



This one is OK - but I just happened to notice that your posts on a couple of lists wouldn't open for me - never mind - Hanneke to the rescue!! (Again!)

 

-

Bea Bernhausen

Thursday, May 07, 2009 4:29 PM

Re: Re: Obama gives PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE to expand biofuels

 

 

 

 

Hmmmmmmmm...........that is mighty strange....anyone else have that problem? And is it just my messages? Yahell has been giving me grief for weeks now with all kinds of error messages....--- On Wed, 5/6/09, Jane <highfield1 wrote:

Jane <highfield1 Re: Obama gives PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE to expand biofuels Received: Wednesday, May 6, 2009, 11:16 PM

 

 

THis wont open in my pc due to "script error" but I can access it on the website, nothing you sent today will open on my pc due to "script error" even on the website the text is full of symbols, like Euros etc - any idea why this is?Jane, Bea Bernhausen <beabernhausen@ ...> wrote:>> ...and guess who stands to gain??? >  >  > http://www.capitalr esearch.org/ pubs/pdf/ v1217525953. pdf> Al Gore’s Carbon Empire:> Cashing in on Climate Change> By Fred Lucas> Excerpt:> In the past year Gore has made major> investments in “green techâ€� enterprises. So> great are his commitments to private sector> problem-solving that one might almost> mistake Gore for a Republican. He has said,> “Climate change is a problem that’s not going> to be solved by politicians â€" I know a little> about that. Politicians have an important role> to play; but the underlying reality is going> to have its effects on the market, regardless> of public opinion and government action.â€�> (“Long Term Life After Politics,â€� by Heather> Stewart, London Observer, November 13,> 2004)> Letting the market solve problems since> government can’t? Gore wasn’t selling that> during his eight years as vice president! But> the problem is that Gore isn’t advocating> market solutions now either. His “greenâ€�> investments will make him lots of money> only when Washington politicians pass> sweeping federal legislation that purports> to reduce carbon emissions by subsidizing> a market for alternative fuels.>  > ************ ****> This is a must read to get a clearer picture of how the scam is being perpetrated under our noses...>  > http://windfarms. wordpress. com/2008/ 07/20/al- groe-and- maurice-strong- con-artists- extordinaire/> Creators of carbon credit scheme cashing in on it> By Judi McLeod> Tuesday, March 13, 2007> There’s an elephant in global warming’s living room that few in the mainstream media want to talk about: the creators of the carbon credit scheme are the ones cashing in on it.> The two cherub like choirboys singing loudest in the Holier Than Thou Global Warming Cathedral are Maurice Strong and Al Gore.>  > http://www.usda. gov/wps/portal/ usdahome? contentidonly= true & contentid= 2009/05/0145. xml> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >  > PRESIDENT OBAMA ISSUES PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE TO USDA TO EXPAND ACCESS TO BIOFUELS> > > >  > USDA, EPA and DOE form Biofuels Interagency Working Group to increase energy independence > > > >  > > WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 5, 2009) - President Obama issued a presidential directive today to Secretary Vilsack to aggressively accelerate the investment in and production of biofuels. On a conference call with Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Vilsack also announced that he will help lead an unprecedented interagency effort to increase America's energy independence and spur rural economic development. > "President Obama's announcement today demonstrates his deep commitment to establishing a permanent biofuels industry in America," said Vilsack. "Expanding our biofuels infrastructure provides a unique opportunity to spur rural economic development while reducing our dependence on foreign oil - one of the great challenges of the 21st century." > Increasing renewable fuels will reduce dependence on foreign oil by more than 297 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 160 million tons a year when fully phased in by 2022. On the call, Jackson announced that the EPA would establish four categories of renewable fuels, some of which would be produced form new sources. To address lifecyle analysis, the EPA said they are soliciting peer reviewed, scientific feedback to ensure that the best science available is utilized prior to implementation. > "Producing clean, renewable energy in our country is a powerful rural development tool that creates jobs domestically while generating new tax revenues for local, state, and federal governments, " added Vilsack. > President Obama directed Secretary Vilsack to expedite and increase production of and investment in biofuel development efforts by: > > Refinancing existing investments in renewable fuels to preserve jobs in ethanol and biodiesel plants, renewable electricity generation plants, and other supporting industries; and > Making renewable energy financing opportunities from the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 available within 30 days. These opportunities include: > Loan guarantees for the development, construction, and retrofitting of commercial scale biorefineries and grants to help pay for the development and construction costs of demonstration- scale biorefineries; > Expedited funding to encourage biorefineries to replace the use of fossil fuels in plant operations by installing new biomass energy systems or producing new energy from renewable biomass; > Expedited funding to biofuels producers to encourage production of next-generation biofuels from biomass and other non-corn feedstocks; > Expansion of Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program, which has been renamed the Rural Energy for America Program, to include hydroelectric source technologies, energy audits, and higher loan guarantee limits; and > Guidance and support for collection, harvest, storage, and transportation assistance for eligible materials for use in biomass conversion facilities. > The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will develop the nation's first comprehensive biofuels market development program. The increased collaboration between federal agencies will accelerate the production of and access to sustainable homegrown energy options by coordinating policies that impact the supply, secure transport, and distribution of biofuels, as well as identifying new policy options to improve the environmental sustainability of biofuels feedstock production. > The Biofuels Interagency Working Group will also work to develop policies to increase flexible fuel vehicle production and assist in retail marketing efforts while also taking into consideration land use, habitat conservation, crop management practices, water efficiency and water quality, and lifecycle assessments of greenhouse gas emissions. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >  > News Releases> > > > > >  > Latest Releases> > > > > >  > Transcripts and Speeches> > > > > >  > Agency News Releases> > > > > >  > Radio and TV Broadcasts> > > > > >  > How to Get Information> > > > > >  > Subscriptions> > > > > >  > RSS Feeds> > > >  > Reports & Publications> > > > > >  > Agency Reports> > > > > >  > USDA Publications> > > >  > Events> > > > > >  > Events by Date> > > >  > Image and Video Libraries> > > > > >  > Secretary's Photo Gallery> > > > > >  > Broadcast Media & Technology Center> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > document.write( lastmoddate)> Last Modified: 05/05/2009 > ************ ********> http://abcnews. go.com/print? id=4257226> > > > Biofuel: Bad for the Environment?> Researchers Say Biofuels Could Do More Harm to the Planet Than Good > By ASHLEY PHILLIPS> Feb. 7, 2008 â€" > > As the debate over what do about human-caused global warming increases and "green fever" sweeps the nation, many environmentalists and politicians have viewed biofuel as a logical replacement for fossil fuels. > But two new studies released Thursday call into question the global movement toward biofuel. According to these researchers, production of biofuel actually contributes to global warming, doing more harm than good. > The studies, one conducted by Minnesota-based Nature Conservancy and one by Princeton University, examined the same issue: What environmental impact does growing vegetation used for biofuel have on global warming? > U.S. demand for ethanol crops like corn, soy and switchgrass has resulted in the conversion across the globe of natural habitats like grasslands and rainforests into fuel-ready farmland, according to the studies. That development has released mass amounts of carbon into the air, researchers said. > "You ask the world's farmers to produce energy and that's going to take additional land and that land has to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, much of it is coming from our natural ecosystem. What's the consequence of that?" Joe Fargione, the regional science director for the Nature Conservancy and the lead author of one study, told ABCNews.com. "If you imagine a grassland and a cornfield, there's much more carbon in the grassland soil. When you convert a grassland into a cornfield, that carbon has to go somewhere. It goes into the air as carbon dioxide and contributes to global warming." > "Any biofuel that causes the clearing of natural ecosystems will increase global warming," he continued. > In the Princeton study, which was led by Timothy Searchinger, a German Marshall Fund fellow and a researcher at Princeton University, numbers told a striking story. > Past data that has outlined the benefits of biofuels didn't include the issues surrounding the impact of land use and the carbon released into the air as a result, both studies said. > Using models that calculated carbon emissions in various countries, the Princeton researchers found that the production of corn-based ethanol nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gasses for 167 years. Similarly, biofuels made from switchgrass, if grown on land originally intended for corn, increase carbon emissions by 50 percent. > "By excluding emissions from land-use change, most previous accountings were one-sided," the researchers wrote. "Because they counted the carbon benefits of using land for biofuels but not the carbon costs the carbon storage and sequestration sacrificed by diverting land from its existing uses." > "Twenty percent of CO2 emissions come from land use change and deforestation, " Searchinger said. "We're simply transferring the problem ... from the fossil fuel side to the land-use side" when we produce biofuel. > Researchers in the Nature Conservancy study, which has been going on since March 2007, found nearly identical results. In this study, researchers compared the amount of carbon in the air in natural ecosystems and crop land around the world. > "There is three times as much carbon in the plants and soil as there in the air," Fargione said. "This is a globally significant concern that is dramatically contributing to global warming." > What researchers found was a vast creation of carbon in the conversion of peatlands for Indonesian palm oil plantations and soy production in the Amazon. The research led Fargione to conclude that biofuel, if farmed from converted land, is not a practical replacement for fossil fuels. > Fargione also argues that the findings call into question the energy bill recently passed by Congress, which calls for increased biofuel production 15 billion gallons by 2015. > "If you create a carbon tax or a low carbon fuel standard that penalizes fuel based on the amount of carbon it emits and then you miscalculate how much carbon biofuels are actually emitting, then biofuels are actually worse than the fossil fuels they replace," he said. > But according to the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade organization representing the U.S. ethanol industry, the studies failed to put biofuel production in context with fossil fuel production. > "Without biofuels and some increase in fuel economy, more and more petroleum will be required to meet the increasingly ravenous demand for liquid fuels around the world," Bob Dinneen, the association' s president, said in a statement. "As the 'easy' sources of oil decline, development of exotic resources, like tar sands in Canada, are being pursued. Tar sands, by comparison, release some 300 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than traditional petroleum recovery." > For those committed to biofuel, there is hope, both sets of researchers said, in biofuel made from abandoned, depleted farmland and biomass waste, like unused parts of a corn plant. > "The holes from your Cheerios could be used for energy," Fargione said. > Still, Fargione maintains that biofuels aren't the only answer in the fight against global warming. > "It's worth doing, but it's not a silver bullet," he said. > > > Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures>  > ************ ****>  > http://www.treehugg er.com 2008/05/biofuel- comparison- chart.php> Biofuel Comparison Chart: The "Good," the Bad and the (Really) Ugly>  > ************ *****> http://tennesseefre e.com/2008/ 07/07/100- million-people- starving- al-gores- biofuel-boom- forces-global- food-prices- up-75/> 100 Million people starving: Al Gore’s Biofuel boom forces global food prices up 75% >  > A ’secret report’, an unpublished assessment by an ‘internationally- respected economist’ at the World Bank (uncovered and reported by The Guardian) will give world leaders painful evidence that the Biofuels campaign (ethanol and other ‘food-based’ biofuels) are starving the world’s poorest citizens…>  > ************ ******> http://www.workers. org/2008/ world/biofuel_ 0717/> Millions go hungry to feed biofuel biz> By LeiLani Dowell > > Published Jul 9, 2008 11:18 PM > At a time of increased hunger worldwide, a confidential World Bank report has revealed that the overwhelmingly largest factor in rising food prices is the production of ethanol for fuel production.> > var s_account = "wdgnewabcnews, wdgasec";> > > > > > > > > > ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _> Looking for the perfect gift? Give the gift of Flickr! > > http://www.flickr. com/gift/>

 

 

 

 

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