Science magazine reaction: US scientists write to President Bush, Speaker Pelosi; Berkeley professor says recent policy decisions moving in the right direction

February 14, 2008

A group of scientists have sent a letter to US President George Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging them to revise US biofuels policies in light of studies published this month in Science magazine.

Meanwhile, American Progress published a thoughtful interview with Alex Farrell, associate professor in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

Farrell said: “If we want clean biofuels, then we need to demand or incentivize clean biofuels. And recent policy decisions are moving in that direction.

“One is in California. We have the low carbon fuel standard here in California. Also, in the Lieberman-Warner bill, there is an emission cap that would include transportation.

“The second one that I would mention is the recent energy bill, which includes some provisions for advanced biofuels that require a standard of performance for low greenhouse gases, with different types of performance standards for different types of fuels. Those parts of the provision are very important.

“The way out is to create markets for these greener biofuels, as well as providing research and development support.”