Minnesota Bio-Fuels Affiliation (MN Bio-Fuels) govt director, Brian Werner, testified yesterday on the Minnesota Senate’s Transportation Committee on amendments to the Clear Transportation Normal (CTS) act.
In his testimony, Werner mentioned outcomes of the CTS working group report confirmed that the carbon depth discount schedule within the CTS can’t be met with out biofuels.
“For a CTS program to be profitable, it wants to offer equity to farmers and biofuel producers by leveling the enjoying subject for all fuels, applied sciences, and feedstocks that may show lifecycle greenhouse fuel emissions reductions,” he mentioned.
Werner mentioned there have been a number of regarding provisions within the modification such because the carbon depth discount schedule, the ban on biofuels produced from feedstocks grown on croplands with fewer than 5 consecutive years of cropping historical past, the flexibility of the Commissioner to outsource gas pathway approvals to different states and the open-ended authority given to the Commissioner to ban credit score technology from undefined “sure actions.”
“Whereas this modification falls in need of offering a very stage enjoying subject, we look ahead to persevering with to work with the Chair and members of this Committee on enhancements that can guarantee it adequately addresses the considerations of farmers and renewable gas producers whereas additionally assembly our shared objective of significant reductions in transportation and agricultural emissions,” he mentioned.
Learn Werner’s full testimony under:
Chair Dibble and Members of the Committee:
My title is Brian Werner, and I’m the Govt Director of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Affiliation, in addition to a member of the Clear Transportation Normal Work Group.
As discussions on a Clear Transportation Normal or CTS ramped up within the final yr, a gaggle of Minnesota agriculture and biofuel stakeholders got here collectively to establish a slender record of consensus positions and rules that we would want to see mirrored in a invoice to achieve our help.
I’m right here as we speak to testify on behalf of each my affiliation and people stakeholders, which embody the Minnesota Corn Growers Affiliation, Minnesota Soybean Growers Affiliation, Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation, Minnesota Farmers Union, and the Minnesota Biodiesel Council.
In the beginning, we wish to thank the Chair for his work on coverage options to cut back transportation greenhouse fuel emissions in Minnesota. We share that objective and examine a well-crafted C-T-S program as a significant device to attain emissions reductions, higher air high quality, and statewide financial advantages.
We additionally wish to acknowledge and thank the Chair for a number of updates to the invoice textual content included within the modification, like designating MNDOT because the lead state company for program implementation, offering information protections for on-farm practices, and incorporating distinctive scoring for soil wholesome farming practices.
From our perspective, the outcomes of the Work Group report have been clear: we can’t meet the carbon depth discount schedule set forth in a CTS with out using biofuels.
That’s as a result of Minnesota’s farmers and biofuel producers are already producing reasonably priced and accessible decrease carbon transportation fuels which can be decreasing emissions from autos on the highway as we speak.
For a CTS program to achieve success, it wants to offer equity to farmers and biofuel producers by leveling the enjoying subject for all fuels, applied sciences, and feedstocks that may show lifecycle greenhouse fuel emissions reductions.
We stay involved about a number of provisions within the modification together with the carbon depth discount schedule … the ban on biofuels produced from feedstocks grown on croplands with fewer than 5 consecutive years of cropping historical past … the flexibility of the Commissioner to outsource gas pathway approvals to different states … and the open-ended authority given to the Commissioner to ban credit score technology from undefined “sure actions.”
Whereas this modification falls in need of offering a very stage enjoying subject, we look ahead to persevering with to work with the Chair and members of this Committee on enhancements that can guarantee it adequately addresses the considerations of farmers and renewable gas producers whereas additionally assembly our shared objective of significant reductions in transportation and agricultural emissions.
Thanks for the chance to testify.