Count Biofuel Emissions, Scientists and Economists Say

WASHINGTON (September 23, 2009) — More than 200 scientists and economists issued a letter today calling on Congress and federal agencies to account for emissions from indirect land use change in biofuel laws and regulations. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), which organized the letter, is running advertisements in Congress Daily this Wednesday and Thursday to publicize the letter.

Including "indirect land use change…in the lifecycle analyses of heat-trapping emissions from biofuels…," the letter states, "will encourage development of sustainable, low-carbon fuels that avoid conflict with food and minimize harmful environmental impacts."

When U.S. food crops are used to make biofuels, the market price of the crops increase. That price signal leads farmers in other countries to clear land to produce replacement crops. A portion of those farmers clear tropical forests for farm land, or till previously untouched land, resulting in the release of heat-trapping emissions into the atmosphere.

The letter's release coincides with the end of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) public comment period for the Renewable Fuels Standard, which would significantly increase biofuel production. EPA is required to consider these emissions under current law. 

The ethanol industry is promoting policies that would prevent the EPA from even considering the science underpinning indirect land use change. To do that would ignore the scientific evidence, according to the scientists and economists on the letter. "Grappling with the technical uncertainty and developing a regulation based on the best available science is preferable to ignoring a major source of emissions," they write.

A copy of the letter, the ads and more information about indirect land use change can be found on UCS's Smart Bioenergy page.

The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C. To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.ucsusa.org