12/13/06 Cellulosic ethanol definition at issue

Farm and Ranch December 13, 2006 A group called the Institute for Local Self-Reliance says language added by the Conference Committee to the 2005 Energy Policy Act threatens to derail the nation's efforts to commercialize ethanol made from cellulosic materials. According to the Institute's vice president David Morris, Congress originally inserted a straightforward mandate requiring 250-million gallons of annual ethanol production from cellulose by 2012. But Morris says the Conference Committee added a sentence redefining the term "cellulosic ethanol" so that instead of meaning only ethanol made from cellulosic materials like straw or corn stalks, cellulosic ethanol also means ethanol made in a facility that uses cellulose as a fuel. Maurice Hladik, Marketing Director for Iogen Energy, which may build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Idaho, says they recently became aware of this issue. Hladik: "Basically if you burn stover or straw as the energy source for regular ethanol, something that becomes cellulosic ethanol, well there is no technology there that says it is cellulosic and the incentive to the industry just evaporates for no good reason. So you are quite right. That is the issue and how it is going to be interpreted is still an open question." The Institute for Local Self-Reliance wants Congress to correct the language to ensure the original intent of the cellulosic mandate. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.