Growth Energy Calls for Flexibility for Farmers and Renewable Fuel Producers in USDA Testimony

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Growth Energy, the nation's largest biofuel trade association, provided testimony to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today about the importance of giving farmers flexibility when it comes to implementing and incentivizing practices that lower the carbon intensity (CI) of renewable fuel production, including climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices.

Speaking at USDA's Public Consultation on Climate-Smart Agriculture Biofuel Feedstocks, Growth Energy General Counsel Joe Kakesh called on USDA, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to give farmers and renewable fuel producers credit for every CI-reducing technology they implement at the plant and on the farm, specifically when administering the Section 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit.

"Robust decarbonization cannot be achieved unless the full range of CI-reduction technologies - both on-farm and at the plant - is recognized, and unless farmers and biofuel producers are provided the flexibility to implement CI-reduction technologies that reflect current practices and spur future innovation," Kakesh said. "45Z provides an opportunity to do this. We urge USDA, Treasury, EPA, and other agencies working on Section 45Z guidance to expand options to realize the full CI-reduction potential of biofuels under Section 45Z, and to provide guidance before January 1, 2025, to allow stakeholders to take full advantage of the credit from day one."

Kakesh noted that agriculture represents more than 50 percent of bioethanol's CI score, and that CSA is integral to reducing the carbon footprint of all crop-based biofuels. He highlighted recent research by the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) Foundationthat showed that on-farm practices can reduce the CI of bioethanol by up to 56 percent. In conjunction with at-plant CI reduction technologies, CSA can play a powerful role in the decarbonization of the entire transportation fuel sector.

Read the full testimony as prepared here.