Sustainable Bioenergy, Farms, and Forests - August 12, 2016

Saving Soils by Planting Prairie: Benefits of Perennials

“Two hundred years ago, farmers plowed up the prairie because they didn’t consider it valuable. . . or couldn’t eat it. Now we’re asking them to plant it.”

That’s how Lisa Schulte Moore, an Iowa State professor, describes current efforts to promote planting perennials among farmers. Perennial prairie provides a variety of benefits, including reduced soil erosion, lower nutrient runoff, and healthier soils. Perennial root systems are long and last through the year, allowing them to hold soil in place and slow potential runoff. Despite these benefits, many farmers are reluctant to start planting, but interest is growing.

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The Renewable Fuel Standard: Working as Intended?

With Congress in recess until September, analysts, environmentalists and pundits have returned to a favorite punching bag – the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). With a potential omnibus spending package on the table this fall, the oil industry and some environmental groups have raised again the proposition of RFS reform.  Two major claims made by RFS-reformers are that biofuels, especially corn-based biofuels, don’t reduce GHGs, and that the RFS is causing major environmental degradation by increasing corn production. This week, we examine these two claims and take a look at the future of the RFS.

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Headlines

1. ORNL Study Shows Benefits of Mid-Level Ethanol Blends

2. New Federal Data Show Transportation Sector Now the Largest Source of Carbon Pollution in The United States

3. RFS Reform, Repeal Efforts Continue

4. Farmers, Scientists Seek Common Ground on Going Green

5. US Navy Completes Sea Trial With 100 Percent Renewable Diesel

 

 

Upcoming Event: 

EPA Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel - Public Teleconference

The U.S. EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board staff office has announced plans to hold a public teleconference of the SAB biogenic carbon emissions panel on Oct. 12 as part of its continuing review of the framework for biogenic CO2 emissions from stationary sources first released in November 2014 and updated this February.

 

 

 

To Contact the Editor: Jessie Stolark at [email protected]

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