Dear
biodiesel supporters,
We
send out this newsletter today with some very good news for the planet
and our lungs. The EPA has just announced the final rule for the United States.
The
ruling determines that all biodiesel, regardless of feedstock, provides
at least 57% reduction in life cycle carbon emissions and will
therefore qualify as an advanced biofuel. The ruling requires that an
additional 750 million gallons of biodiesel be blended into US fuel supply
this year. The carbon reduction for 2010 alone will be equal to taking
over 1 million cars off the road…for the entire year!
The
announcement of this ruling comes after an intense period of scrutiny
of the environmental impact of biodiesel. The final determination, which
looked at numerous studies and heard from thousands of stake-holders,
should permanently put to rest any notions that biodiesel might somehow
be worse for the planet than petroleum.
According
to U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, “the EPA used the soundest
available science that has evolved in response from questions and
concerns from a number of stakeholders, and employed a full life-cycle
analysis to track GHG emissions for biofuels production and use
including land use issues,” she said. “Using this, [with RFS2] we’ve
estimated a reduction of carbon emissions to the equivalent of taking 27
million cars off the road annually by 2022.”
In
fact the ruling determined that biodiesel from crops like soy reduces
greenhouse gasses by a whooping 57 to 85%, and that biodiesel from
animal fats and used cooking oil are even better!
We
at Tri-State Biodiesel applaud this ruling and hope that it paves the
way for a massive increase in the use of clean, renewable, domestically
produced biodiesel.
