ACE Urges USDA to Rely on its Established Expertise and GREET for Climate-Smart Agriculture Credits
On July 25, American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings submitted feedback to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) request for information on procedures for quantifying, reporting and verifying the effect of climate-smart farming practices on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with U.S.-grown biofuel feedstock crops.
“We strongly support USDA requesting information which can lay the foundation for policies to bring economic benefits to rural and farm communities while also combating climate change, and we are grateful to Secretary Vilsack for his leadership in working to create opportunities for biofuel policies to reward biofuel producers and farmers for so-called climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices,” Jennings stated in the comments.
ACE’s comments begin by documenting the progress ACE has been making to monetize CSA practices and ensure corn ethanol is part of the climate solution through its USDA-funded Regional Conservation Partnership Programs (RCPPs), followed by responding to five topical areas addressed in the request for information, with an emphasis on not re-inventing the wheel in developing procedures for quantifying GHG reductions from biofuel feedstocks. ACE’s comments can be accessed at ethanol.org/ace-news.
ACE Submits Comments to CARB on Additional Modifications to Proposed LCFS AmendmentsAmerican Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings submitted comments Aug. 27 to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on their additional amendments to the proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). ACE also submitted comments mid-May in response to certain topics discussed during an April 10 workshop held by CARB on the LCFS. Specifically, ACE’s response focused on the proposed “sustainability criteria” for crop-based biofuels and the benefits of approving E15 use in California.
ACE recommended initiating a thoughtful stakeholder engagement process to better understand what CARB wants to accomplish through sustainability criteria, leveraging USDA's existing enforcement infrastructure to verify desired sustainability criteria, and improving/modifying GREET and other models CARB and other regulators currently use by assigning carbon credits based on climate-smart agriculture practices, citing ACE's Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) projects to unlock corn ethanol access to LCFS markets and new tax incentives based on the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. ACE also used the comments as an opportunity to once again implore CARB to finally approve the use of E15 in California.