Banned in Boston: Massachusetts moves to strike algae, miscanthus, switchgrass, oil from microorganisms, from qualifying under Clean Energy Biofuels Act

In Massachusetts, the state Department of Energy Resources, in coordination with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, announced that it would ban all biofuels not made using waste feedstocks from qualifying under the state’s Clean Energy Biofuels Act of 2008.

The state announced that the Biofuels Mandate will begin July 1, 2010, and that mandated volumes would be waived in the first year but that “Early Action Credit” will be provided for all gallons of qualified advanced biofuels, which will be applied to 2nd- year mandate obligations.

The state also announced that DOER will announce by December 31, 2010 whether the 2nd-year Biofuels Mandate will be at the 2% or 3% level. DOER will begin accepting applications for qualifying Advanced Biofuels by October 2009.

In the most surprising aspect of the announcement, the Department said that “Until further notice, DOER will only accept applications for biofuels derived from waste feedstocks which, as defined and provided in the statute, are exempt from a detailed greenhouse gas reduction analysis, provided a preliminary analysis based on both CARB and EPA methodologies indicate such waste feedstocks will yield the 50% greenhouse gas reduction threshold in the Massachusetts law.”

Under the proposed regulation, Massachusetts will ban the use of all non-waste feedstocks, which include algae, cyanobacteria, jatropha, miscanthus, switchgrass, or oils produced on a harvestable basis by microorganisms, such as employed by Joule Biotechnologies.

However, the state said that “DOER and MassDEP will continue to track and engage with federal and California efforts to establish analytical methodologies and protocols for evaluating non-waste feedstock biofuels, and will expeditiously seek to adopt such protocols, as they become available, for the purpose of the Massachusetts Biofuels Mandate. Biofuels that are produced from a mix of waste and non-waste feedstocks can seek qualification from DOER for the portion of the finished biofuel that is attributable to the waste feedstock.”

A copy of the state order is here.

Curt Felix, CEO of Plankton Power, said “This is truly a stunning ruling and guts the Biofuels Law and the Governor’s and the Legislature’s intent.  DOER has made impermissible, all but waste restaurant oil, as a biofuel feedstock in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for compliance with the law. The ruling means that Algae fuels and other “non-waste” feedstocks that clearly meet the legal requirements of the Biofuels Law, will not be allowed to be sold as qualifying product. There are a host of other feedstocks, being developed and supported by the Commonwealth and the Federal Government right here in Massachusetts that will similarly not qualify even though they too can meet the objective standard.  Moreover, renewable fuels have to be better than petroleum by 50%, a high threshold, just to be allowed to compete with petroleum in the first place, shouldn’t petroleum have the same high threshold to compete with itself, why not require that next year petroleum has to lower its carbon emissions by 50%?”

An editorial comment by Biofuels Digest editor Jim Lane is here.

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