06.05.03

Cantwell Legislation Supporting Ethanol Production from Wheat Straw and other Non-Corn Sources Passes Senate

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate today passed bipartisan legislation co-authored by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to encourage the production of ethanol from wheat straw and other agricultural byproducts common in Washington and other non-corn producing states.

"This legislation not only helps reduce our national reliance on foreign oil, but it will provide both environmental and economic benefits," Cantwell said. "It’s in our national and state interest to be able to produce ethanol from a diverse group of agricultural sources, such as wheat straw and other kinds of biomass. This kind of renewable fuel diversity means a cleaner environment and expands economic opportunities throughout our nation’s agriculture communities."

Today, about 90 percent of our nation’s ethanol production occurs in just five, centrally located states. As recently as 1995, export demand and high corn prices resulted in an 18 percent slide in ethanol production.

The legislation, co-authored by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Cantwell, gives refiners an added incentive to use ethanol from non-corn sources such as wheat straw as they attempt to meet the requirements of the Renewable Fuels Standard. This will provide an important boost for efforts to build the first commercial-scale biomass ethanol plants. The Boxer-Lugar-Cantwell legislation accomplishes this by increasing the Renewable Fuel Standard credit for agricultural residues such as wheat or rice straw from 1.5 to 2.5 gallons.

According to studies, including an analysis conducted by the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Lab, a gallon of ethanol produced from cellulosic biomass will represent a greenhouse emissions reduction of around 85 percent to 130 percent—about seven times the air quality benefits of starch or corn-based ethanol.

A study by researchers at the Washington State University Energy Extension concluded that Washington state could produce 200 million gallons per year in cellulosic-based ethanol—and as much as 1.2 billion gallons per year with technology improvements.

According to a study conducted by Oregon State University, construction of ethanol plants would have a significant economic impact—particularly for rural counties in eastern Washington. A single 40 million gallon production plant would create about 104 direct jobs and 335 indirect jobs. Local counties would see an economic benefit of $19.6 million per year, with a state-wide benefit of $26.1 million per year.

This year, a broad coalition of Washington state agricultural and environmental interests helped pass a package of bills through our state legislature that include tax incentives for the production of biofuels. Those bills were signed by Governor Locke last month.

The Boxer-Lugar-Cantwell legislation was adopted as an amendment to S.14, the Senate energy bill. The amendment was incorporated into the Renewable Fuels Standard provision of the energy bill, which would ramp up the use of fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel from 2.1 gallons in 2001 to 5 billion gallons by 2012. As adopted today, it would go to House-Senate conference after final Senate passage of the legislation.