Indirect Land Use Change controversy swirls: two Searchinger critiques published; California LCFS comments from New Fuels Alliance, Friends of the Earth, Shell Oil among many others

The Indirect Land Use Change controversy continued to roil as two papers were released critical of the calculations reached by a team led by Tim Searchinger in the seminal Princeton study that ignited the “food vs fuel” controversy last January. One paper Dr. John Mathews of Macquarie University, was published in Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining and viewable here >, while another is published here, concluding in part:

“The Searchinger et al. paper is framed in extremely negative terms that depict all biofuel production taking place in the USA and all derived from corn…The study then deliberately ignores possible trade effects, such as a proportion of this ethanol spike being met by imports from countries such as Brazil. It even ignores the Congressional cap that was placed on US first-generation corn-based ethanol, which was levied at 15 billion gallons (i.e., half the spike used by Searchinger et al.).”

Meanwhile, the hearings in California on the proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which by including an indirect land-use change in its biofuels emissions calculations has focused attention in ILUCs, is now in a comment phase, and comments can be viewed here.

Commentators include the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (which has also critiqued ILUCs), plus support for ILUC from Friends of the Earth. Other prominent commentators to date include Brooke Coleman of the New Fuels Alliance, Shell Oil, the Nebraska Corn Board, Environment California, a group of scientists led by Lawrence Berkeley scientist Blake Simmons, and the Oregon Environment Council.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Hot Topics: The latest on Indirect Land Use Change, Low Carbon Fuel Standard

Here are some of the most popular latest stories on Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) that have run in Biofuels Digest: Low Carbon Fuel Standard: CARB votes 9-1 for California Low Carbon Fuel Sta...

20 advanced biofuel companies write to California ARB over proposed indirect land-use change regulation

In California, more than 20 advanced biofuel companies, plus key California-based researchers and investors, wrote to the California Air Resources Board regarding the Draft Regulation for the Californ...

Brazil critiques proposed California Low Carbon Fuel Standard; Air Resources Board to vote this week on indirect land use change, low carbon standard

In Brazil, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) said that sugarcane ethanol's carbon intensity is lower than calculated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). "Sugarcane ethanol...

Friends of the Earth says UK’s biofuels mandate doubling CO2 emissions compared to fossil fuels, citing indirect land use change

In the UK, researchers affiliated with Friends of the Earth released a report that the government's biofuels program will increase CO2 emissions by 1.3 million tonnes since last April the equivalent o...

Dale, Searchinger debate biofuels, indirect land use change

In Michigan, the German Marshall Fund recently hosted a debate on biofuels and indirect land use change between Tim Searchinger, transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund and Bruce Dale, profes...

Vilsack, Chu, Jackson to announce EPA ruling tomorrow on indirect land use change, RFS

In Washington, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson will hold a conference call to brief reporters on Pre...