[Sustainable-biodiesel] 25x25 response to Time Magazine article, "Clean Energy Scam"

[John Bonitz]

To all 25x'25 Partners
April 2, 2008

25x'25 Responds to Time Magazine Biofuels Article with Letter to the Editor

Responding to widespread inaccuracies in this week's Time magazine cover
story, the 25x'25 National Steering Committee is responding with a letter to
the editors of Time expressing disappointment with the questionable
characterization of biofuels and their role in the issue of greenhouse gas
emissions in "The Clean Energy Scam," by Michael Grunwald. The letter was
authored by steering committee member and former Congressman Thomas W.
Ewing, who is also the Immediate Past Chairman of the USDA and DOE Biomass
Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee. The entire letter
follows:


As a former Member of Congress and a leader in a diverse alliance of
agricultural, environmental and conservation organizations working together
to advance clean energy solutions, I am greatly disturbed with Time
magazine's April 7th feature story on biofuels. In this article, Michael
Grunwald criticizes biofuels yet offers no alternative to using petroleum to
meet our energy needs - much of which comes from the Middle East.
 
Members of our alliance share the author's anxiety for the continued health
of the Amazon rain forest and other "carbon sinks" that nature has provided
around the globe. As champions of many forms of land-based renewable energy
(biomass, wind energy, solar power, geothermal energy and hydropower, in
addition to biofuels), we agree that environmentally sensitive lands should
not be exploited in pursuit of renewable fuels.
 
Unfortunately, the story's message of concern is undermined by
misinformation about biofuels and an over-simplified analysis of complex
systems. The implication that biofuel production is responsible for the
destruction of the Amazon rain forest ignores the reality that ever
increasing worldwide demand for food and fiber is the primary cause of land
use change in this and other regions. Simply eliminating biofuels will not
stop land use changes from occurring, and in countries like Haiti that have
already lost their forests, biofuels could help reestablish forests and
offer more affordable and sustainable energy options. Similarly, information
in the story about a recent study, which claims land-use changes brought
about by increased biofuel production are producing more greenhouse gas
emissions (Searchinger et al.), only tells half the story. What is missing
is that Searchinger's methodologies have been widely questioned by respected
biofuel life-cycle analysis researchers such as Michael Wang, with the
Center for Transportation Research at the Argonne National Laboratory, who
counter that Searchinger et al. used outdated, if not incorrect, data to
reach their conclusions.
 
The story's reference to a UN food expert's dramatic condemnation of biofuel
production fails to mention that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
almost immediately distanced itself from the remarks. The head of the UN
Food Program recently noted that higher energy costs, erratic weather and
low stocks are big factors contributing to the high cost of food around the
globe.
 
Of particular concern is the ready dismissal of emerging technologies that
will allow us to produce next generation biofuels from non-food feedstocks
sustainably grown on underutilized and marginal lands not suited for food
production. Conservation tillage and other agriculture and forestry residue
management practices used to produce biomass energy feedstocks can also
provide a constant buildup of soil organic carbon. Researchers at Ohio State
have concluded that the total potential of carbon sequestration in U.S.
soils, counting croplands, grazing lands and woodlands, is nearly 600
million metric tons of carbon, or the equivalent of more than 2,200 million
metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions - about 33 percent of total U.S.
emissions.
 
We encourage the editors of Time to contribute to a much-needed discussion
of the role renewable resources will play in improving national security and
the environment while moving us closer to energy independence. We simply ask
that they demand a basic level of accuracy and balance from the stories that
they run.





-- 
John Bonitz
Farm Outreach & Policy Advocate
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
P.O. Box 1833, Pittsboro, NC 27312
(O) 919.545.2920
(C) 919.360.2492 
bonitz at cleanenergy.org
http://www.cleanenergy.org