To help congressional staff members and U.S. federal agency staff members better understand the facts and science of advanced biofuels, Iowa State University held a workshop entitled, “Advanced Biofuels and the RFS: The State of Technology, Investment and Market Outlook” in June 2012 in Washington D.C. “The more informed decision makers are, the more likely that any change to the RFS will be based on facts and science rather than beliefs, myths and politics,” said Bruce Babcock, director of the Biobased Industry Center and leader of the Iowa NSF EPSCoR energy policy platform. Babcock is also a professor of agricultural economics at Iowa State. Read the article.
Babcock on NPR Morning Edition
Director of BIC, Bruce Babcock on NPR Morning Edition discussing the loss of the ethanol subsidy.
Babcock named Iowa State’s Cargill Chair and leader of the Biobased Industry Center
Contacts:
Bruce Babcock, Economics and Biobased Industry Center, 515-294-5764, babcock@iastate.edu
John Schroeter, Economics, 515-294-5876, johns@iastate.edu
Robert C. Brown, Bioeconomy Institute, 515-294-7934, rcbrown@iastate.edu
Mike Krapfl, News Service, 515-294-4917, mkrapfl@iastate.edu
AMES, Iowa – Bruce Babcock is ready to focus on the bioeconomy as Iowa State University’s next Cargill Endowed Chair in Energy Economics and director of the university’s Biobased Industry Center.
Babcock, an Iowa State professor of economics and current director of the university’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, assumes his new position Oct. 1. He succeeds James Bushnell, who is now an associate professor of economics at the University of California Davis.
An interim director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development is expected to be named soon.
“I’m looking forward to the new position,” Babcock said. “I’ve been moving toward bioenergy analysis and policy for the last few years. And this is a good opportunity for me to focus directly on bioenergy.”
As director of the Biobased Industry Center, Babcock will also work with 15 companies and organizations – from fuel producers to agribusinesses to auto manufacturers – interested in the latest bioenergy research. The center was established in 2008 and is part of Iowa State’s Bioeconomy Institute. It supports interdisciplinary studies of the business, policy, infrastructure and supply chain issues facing the bioeconomy.
“I’m also looking forward to engaging more companies in the Biobased Industry Center and getting some research started that addresses the costs and benefits of advanced biofuels,” Babcock said. “We want to learn how the marketplace will play out with both corn ethanol and advanced biofuels.”
Babcock’s goal is for the Cargill Chair and the Biobased Industry Center to develop complementary research programs that investigate policy and market issues.
John Schroeter, Iowa State professor and interim chair of economics, said he’s happy to see Babcock taking the Cargill Chair.
“I think this is an ideal fit,” he said. “Bruce is a distinguished scholar and nationally recognized for a long research career in agricultural economics, energy economics and the economics of biofuels.”
Babcock has been at Iowa State since 1990 and has directed the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development since 1998.
Robert C. Brown – an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor inEngineering, the Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering, the Iowa Farm Bureau Director of Iowa State’s Bioeconomy Institute and a member of the executive team of the Biobased Industry Center – said he’s pleased Babcock will be the next Cargill Chair.
“The essence of the Biobased Industry Center involves its ability to evaluate the economic potential of the bioeconomy,” Brown said. “Bruce is extremely well qualified to lead this effort and explore new opportunities for the center.”
House Budget Bill Takes Aim at Ethanol, EPA Funding
The budget act that the House of Representatives passed last week (the “Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act for FY2011”) contains several provisions that will impact biobased industry if it becomes law. The following amendments were included in the final bill:
- Sec. 1746 prohibits the EPA from rejecting state implementation plans under the Clean Air Act because of concerns regarding greenhouse gas emissions.
- Sec. 4009 eliminates funding for the White House positions of Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, Special Envoy for Climate Change, and Special Advisor for Green Jobs.
- Sec. 4037 bars the use of federal funds for the construction of ethanol blender pumps and storage facilities.
- Sec. 4042 prohibits federal funding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
- Sec. 4043 prohibits the EPA from implementing an E15 blend rate.
- Sec. 4045 prohibits the EPA from regulating fossil fuel combustion waste.
The act also cuts several hundred million dollars from the EPA’s overall budget. The full text is available here.
The act still needs to be passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama before it becomes law. It is unlikely to pass both milestones due to opposition among Senate Democrats to the cuts it implements and President Obama’s pledge to veto the act in its current form. That said, the House Republicans and Senate Democrats will need to arrive at a compromise if a budget is to be passed at all. Given the bipartisan support for the two ethanol amendments, there is a good chance that one or both will be included in the final budget signed by the president.
EPA Issues Plan for Regulating Power Plant and Refinery GHG Emissions
The EPA has issued a plan for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel power plants and petroleum refineries. Rules for power plants will be made public in July 2011 and for refineries in December 2011. Final standards for each will be announced in May 2012 and November 2012, respectively. The two sources are estimated to account for 40% of total GHG emissions in the U.S. Meanwhile, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has unveiled legislation to prevent the EPA from regulating GHG emissions, in response to the proposed rules.