BIO and Other Groups Urge Congress To Preserve Renewable Fuel Standard

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Tuesday, May 17, 2011) - The federal Renewable Fuel Standard provides the stable policy essential to attracting private investment to the development of advanced biofuels. The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today joined the Advanced BioFuel Association, the Renewable Fuel Association, the Advanced Ethanol Council and the American Coalition for Ethanol in a letter to leaders of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works urging protection of the federal RFS.

“The Renewable Fuel Standard, as it has been implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency, provides the stable, market-based policy mechanism that advanced biofuel producers and investors have been looking for,” stated BIO President & CEO Jim Greenwood. “The RFS is an effective mechanism for incentivizing innovation within the biofuels industry. With this policy in place, industrial biotechnology companies already have made significant investments in research and development, producing successes at each stage. Advanced biofuel technology is ready for commercial deployment and it can provide good jobs and new economic opportunities.

“Access to capital remains the biggest challenge for the industry, especially as high oil prices threaten to plunge the country into another recession. Federal support must continue so that the advanced biofuels industry can build on the foundation created by the RFS and reach its potential commercial production levels. It provides both an assured market and a significant degree of price certainty for cellulosic and advanced biofuels, which can significantly mitigate the capital risk associated with commercialization of new technologies.”