President Obama is supporting an ambitious plan to increase biofuel production in the U.S. and to develop 5 to 10 demonstration projects to capture carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants and store the CO2 underground.
Unveiling a policy to develop biofuels not only from corn but also from farm and forest waste and switch grass, Obama said his administration will strive to meet a Congressional target of producing 36 billion gallons of ethanol and advanced biofuels by 2022.
In the hopes of finding common ground with Republicans to pass an energy bill that includes offshore drilling and nuclear power plant construction, Obama said, “So even if you don’t believe in the severity of climate change, as I do, you still should want to pursue this agenda. It’s good for our national security and reducing dependence on foreign oil. It’s good for our economy because it will produce jobs.”
Obama suggested earlier that these energy provisions could be passed separately from a more contentious cap-and-trade bill. Meanwhile, a new public opinion survey shows that even while concern about climate change is waning among Americans, 70 to 85 percent of Americans support development of renewable energy and regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.
Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.
photo: Jurvetson
