Bioenergy, Agriculture, and Forestry Provisions in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 200

On June 5, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce reported out the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES, H.R. 2454), often referred to as Waxman-Markey after the two Congressmen who introduced it, Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Representative Edward Markey (D-MA), Chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. The bill would establish a comprehensive system of energy and climate policies calculated to reduce nationwide emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% below 2005 levels by 2050.

The core of the bill is a cap-and-trade program that would establish mandatory limits on emissions that would decrease over time. Power plants, fossil fuel producers, and other ‘capped’ entities would be obligated to obtain and submit sufficient emissions allowances each year to cover the extent of their emissions. Bioenergy generated from renewable biomass (as defined in section 312) would be exempt from this requirement, as sustainably produced biomass is assumed for the purposes of the bill to be a carbon-neutral feedstock. Bioenergy producers using feedstocks that do not meet this definition, however, would be treated as capped entities and would be required to submit emissions allowances like producers of fossil energy.

Agriculture, forestry and other land management activities are not included among the capped sectors, despite being significant sources of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. Instead, the program would encourage farmers and land managers to reduce the carbon footprint of their operations by allowing them to sell carbon offsets (as described in sections 731-743). In order to be eligible, offset projects must demonstrate verifiable reductions in emissions (such through methane capture at livestock operations) or actively sequester quantifiable amounts of carbon in soils or vegetation (such as through conservation tillage and long-rotation forestry). Capped entities would be able to purchase these offsets and submit them in place of a certain quantity of emissions allowances. At the outset, the program would allow two billion tons of carbon offsets, half of which could come from projects in the United States.

Beyond the cap-and-trade program, ACES includes a number of provisions promoting the capacity of biological resources in the United States to produce biomass, store carbon, and reduce emissions as part of a holistic climate mitigation strategy. One of the most widely-discussed programs, the combined Efficiency and Renewable Electricity Standard (section 101) would require utilities to derive 6 percent of energy production from renewables in 2012, increasing to 20 percent in 2021. Energy efficiency can be used to meet up to 25 percent of the target, and distributed sources of renewable energy would be counted at triple their actual energy output. The definition of renewable biomass included in the legislation contains a number of important feedstocks: crop waste, animal waste, algae, energy crops, separated yard waste, food waste, and woody biomass from private and federal lands (although municipal solid waste is not included in the definition, waste-to-energy is separately defined as a ‘qualifying energy resource’ and could therefore be used in meeting the mandate). This definition of renewable biomass is identical to the one that would be used to determine exemption from the cap-and-trade program, as mentioned above. Section 126 of the bill goes a step further, and would substitute this definition for the one enacted in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA, P.L. 110-140) as part of the Renewable Fuels Standard. The EISA definition does not include federal forests, and is narrower in several regards than the ACES definition.

Section 218, the Certified Stoves Program, would provide authority to the EPA to establish a woodstove change-out program to replace inefficient, polluting woodstoves with EPA-certified high-efficiency woodstoves and pellet stoves. In addition, the bill directs EPA to leverage existing authority, as well as state/local programs and private partners, to encourage additional woodstove change-out programs across the nation. The program is authorized at $20 million for each of 2010-2014.

ACES would authorize the National Bioenergy Partnership (section 193). This partnership is a collaborative effort between the DOE Biomass Program and five regional offices to nurture state and regional biomass activities and to coordinate federal, state, regional and private sector biomass activities. The partnership also provides a forum for sharing technical information and policy ideas, as well as providing DOE with a regional perspective, in order to facilitate the production and use of bioenergy and biobased products across the nation. The program currently has no congressional authority and no dedicated source of funding, and instead depends on periodic funding at the discretion of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. ACES would authorize this program at $7.5 million for each of 2010-2014.

The Open Fuel Standard (section 127) would grant the Secretary of Transportation the authority to require manufacturers of light-duty automobiles to produce a minimum percentage of ‘fuel choice-enabling automobiles’, if it is determined that doing so would be a cost-effective way of achieving the nation’s energy independence and environmental objectives. Fuel choice-enabling automobiles are defined as light-duty vehicles that can run on E85, biodiesel, or a fuel comprised of 85 percent methanol (M85).

The bill would also authorize a grant program (section 205) to help retail power providers establish strategic tree-planting programs, to reduce energy demand and decrease air pollution. In addition, ACES contains a number of programs that broadly support the development and commercialization of renewable energy, including bioenergy, such as the Clean Energy Innovation Centers (section 171), the Centers for Energy and Environmental Knowledge and Outreach (section 173), and the State Energy and Environment Development (SEED) Accounts (sections 131-132).

Title IV, subtitle E of the bill is concerned with adaptation programs and funding. Climate change will effect society broadly, but many of the most immediate and dire impacts will be on water resources, soils, forests, and wildlife. Much of the funding available under this subtitle would be made available to bolster adaptation efforts in the realm of natural resources management, assisting state agencies, farmers, and land managers to preserve land productivity and critical ecosystem functions in the face of a changing climate.