Today, May 27th, 2022, Rep Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-02) led Rep. Ashley Hinson (IA-01), Rep. Randy Feenstra (IA-04), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) in a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan expressing concerns with current rulemaking that would undercut the biofuels industry and advocating for the benefits of biochar. Biochar has great potential to provide long-term carbon sequestration benefits and Iowa State University’s work on its fast pyrolysis process has proven its potential.
In the letter, the members highlight the EPA rulemaking with regards to the Renewable Fuel Standard: “EPA currently does not allow renewable fuels made from bio-oil and cellulosic sugar to qualify for RIN credits if they are shipped from a local pyrolyzer to two different upgrading facilities. For example, a local pyrolyzer shipping the bio-oil to a refinery for upgrading to diesel and the cellulosic sugar to a fermentation plant for upgrading to ethanol would not qualify for RIN credits. EPA has issued a proposed rule change that would allow one product (bio-oil) to be shipped to a different plant for upgrading into renewable biofuel, but not two products and not cellulosic sugars. We believe we must allow both bio-oil and cellulosic sugars to be shipped to different facilities for further processing into qualifying renewable fuels.”
The members also highlighted necessary changes to theNRCS Carbon Amendment Practice Standard 336 Final Rule: “This practice standard provides guidelines for USDA cost share and incentive payments for application of biochar. We believe it must be expanded to include all biochar produced from crop residue. Precluding cost share and incentive payments for biochar produced from crop residue is counterproductive and will result in a loss of soil carbon. Virtually all of the carbon in crop residue left on the soil is oxidized and released to the atmosphere as CO2 within a few years. Removing a portion of crop residue and returning biochar, a much longer-lived form of carbon, would be far more effective at achieving the desired goals of building soil organic matter, quality and health.”
Original source can be found here
