Carbon rules under consideration will hurt Michigan biofuel industry

Carbon credit legislation under consideration in the United States Congress is a bad deal for Michigan, an an opinion piece in the Detroit News says today.

The article, by Michigan State University crop and soil sciences professor Phil Robertson, notes that not all biofuels are created equal, and that it's important to discourage the production of biofuels that lead to climate damaging deforestation.

"Failing to make the distinction between good and bad sources of biofuel damages the credibility of the emerging cellulosic biofuels industry. Without this distinction, the promise of biofuel's ability to reduce climate change won't be realized, and the backlash will be serious -- especially if we've already sacrificed many of our forests."

The editorial also says the best carbon rules will also discourage production of biofuels on land that now used for crops. "This is because taking land out of food production in one place may cause forested land elsewhere to be cleared for crops, which releases stored carbon and removes the capacity of the forest to store additional carbon.

" ... Michigan has a lot of land that could be used to grow innovative carbon-neutral biofuels. Abandoned land formerly used for field crops or pasture could be used to grow grasses that are harvested annually for energy production. Formerly cleared land in the Upper Peninsula could be planted with grasses or very fast-growing trees like poplar and willow. Biofuel plantings also could have valuable conservation benefits."