Biofuel industry groups urged the Trump administration to build a stronger link between climate-smart agriculture and the next generation of transportation fuels, in the face of evidence that officials have little intention of doing so.
Industry representatives, farm groups and others submitted dozens of public comments to the Agriculture Department on proposed climate-smart agriculture guidance inherited from the Biden administration, meeting a March 18 deadline.
Where the regulations — called technical guidelines for climate-smart agriculture for crops used as biofuel feedstocks — go from here is anyone’s guess. The industry had counted on USDA’s action to go hand in hand with a clean energy tax credit that took effect Jan. 1 to reward lower carbon fuels.
“They won’t be calling it climate-smart agriculture,” said Paul Winters, director of public affairs and federal communications for Clean Fuels Alliance America. The organization represents producers of biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.
