Citing a severe lack of hard empirical data, an assembly of scientists and researchers across the nation urged California to adopt a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) based on commonly understood direct impacts on carbon dioxide emissions and further study highly controversial and speculative "indirect land use changes" before incorporating any of these indirect impacts in that standard.
In a letter sent to the Chair of the of the Air Resources Board, the scientists and researchers state:
"Given that our only options for sustainably powering transportation with a significant reduction in transportation related greenhouse gas emissions are biofuels, batteries, and hydrogen, a presumptive policy implementation based on the current understanding of indirect impacts will have a significant chance to hurt real progress on reducing carbon emissions and decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels.
We propose that a sound policy approach would be to base the initial LCFS on existing data sets that possess scientific consensus. These include the direct impacts of renewable biofuels production. The scientific and economic communities can then take advantage of the necessary time over the next five years to fully understand, gather, and validate the indirect impacts of biofuels production with empirical evidence that will enable the implementation of a sound policy that can address any indirect impacts."
The scientists and researchers, signing on their own and not on behalf of their institutions, include scientists from Universities and National Laboratories across the nation. The full text of the letter is available
HERE.
Blake A. Simmons, Ph.D.
Manager, Energy Systems Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA and Vice-President for Deconstruction, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA
Jay D. Keasling, Ph.D.
Professor, Departments of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA and Director, Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA and Chief Executive Officer, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA
Harvey Blanch, Ph.D.
CSTO, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA and Merck Professor of Biochemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Paul D. Adams, Ph.D.
Deputy Division Director, Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA
Todd W. Lane, Ph.D.
Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
Christopher Shaddix, Ph.D.
Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
William J. Orts, Ph.D.
Research Leader, Bioproduct Chemistry & Engineering, USDA-ARS-WRRC, Albany, CA
R. Michael Raab, Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Cambridge, MA
Brad Holmes, Ph.D.
Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
Rick Gustafson, Ph.D.
Denman Professor of Bioresource, Science and Engineering, College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Lonnie Ingram, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Microbiology, University of Florida and Director of the University of Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Gainesville, FL
Mohammed Moniruzzaman, Ph.D.
VP Research & Development, BioEnergy International, Quincy, MA
Masood Hadi, Ph.D.
Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
David Reichmuth, Ph.D.
Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
Swapnil Chhabra, Ph.D.
Research Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA and Adjunct Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA and Vice President for Technology, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA and Head, Berkeley Center for Structural Biology, Berkeley, CA
Bruce E. Dale, Ph.D.
Distinguished University Professor, Dept. of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Charles E. Wyman, Ph.D.
Ford Motor Company Chair in Environmental Engineering, Center for Environmental Research & Technology (CE-CERT), Riverside, CA and Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Bourns College of Engineering University of California, Riverside, CA and Adjunct Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Stephen R. Kaffka, Ph.D.
Co-Director, California Biomass Collaborative and Extension Agronomist, Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA
Mike Henson, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Keith Kretz, Ph.D.
VP, R&D Operations and Services, Verenium Corporation, San Diego, CA
Jeffrey L. Blanchard, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Randolph T. Hatch, Ph.D.
President, Cerex, Inc., Wellesley, MA
Susan Leschine, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Ken Copenhaver
Program Director, Institute for Technology Development, Savoy, IL
Dean Dibble
Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
Seema Singh, Ph.D.
Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
Rajat Sapra, Ph.D.
Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA
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