10/08/08 National Biofuels Action Plan

National Biofuels Action Plan. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. U.S. government officials have released the National Biofuels Action Plan, an interagency plan to accelerate development of a sustainable biofuels industry. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer and Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the plan is in response to President George Bush's goal of cutting U.S. gasoline consumption by 20 percent in the next 10 years. Schafer says to achieve this we must look beyond corn based ethanol. SCHAFER: This means that we must move forward with the next generation of biofuels made from waste materials like crop residues and woody biomass. Dedicated energy crops also like switch grass, poplar trees and algae and maybe even orange peels. Sam Bodman said this was an important plan. BODMAN: A strategic blueprint laying out the way to meet the President's goal of a meaningful biofuels production by the year 2022 with alternative fuels like corn based ethanol and biodiesel. The new program is part of a $1-billion dollar Farm Bill allocation for research and development of cellulosic fuels over the next 5 years. Schafer says part of the action plan is some cash on the barrelhead. SCHAFER: One of the best new programs will provide loan guarantees of up to $250-million dollars to bio-refineries that pioneer new cellulosic production technologies. Schafer talks about how that will happen. SCHAFER: How we are going to grow and produce the feedstocks of the future, how to get those feedstocks we need from the farm and the forest to the refinery, how to convert them into fuel once they arrive, and how to get that fuel to places where the consumers can purchase it. The two cabinet members announced the program yesterday morning and it was met with enthusiasm. Afterwards Schafer fielded questions about how biofuels may be causing higher food prices. SCHAFER: You can grab any number that you want. The reality is biofuels do have some impact on food price increases. The reality is the cost of oil is huge. It's the biggest part of it. You can't discount that. The cost of increased consumption and it's affect on stock in this world and the laws of supply and demand is a huge issue here and you can't discount that. For the FAO to look at one piece of the puzzle here and discount the rest is inappropriate. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.