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December 2, 2011
A weekly look at sustainable bioenergy, farm, and forest policy issues
Congress' Unfinished Business: Jobs on the Line
Congress has a mountain of unfinished business to complete this month before this session ends – FY12 appropriations, extensions of expiring tax incentives and unemployment benefits, fixing Medicare reimbursement rates, and more. Among these are expiring grants for renewable energy projects and production tax credits for biodiesel and alternative fuels. Tens of thousands of jobs are on the line. Will the renewable energy sector continue to grow in 2012 and beyond?
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Next Steps for the Farm Bill?
With the failure of the bipartisan House/Senate budget Super Committee to agree on a ten-year plan to reduce the federal deficit, the pressure is off of the agriculture committees (momentarily) to produce a new farm bill immediately. Agriculture conservation and energy program supporters will have more time to press their case. However, it is likely to be an uphill struggle.
Carbon Tax Bill Introduced: Great Idea; Needs Some Amending
A steadily rising tax on the carbon content of fossil fuels would be a powerful, market-based approach to addressing one of the greatest crises of our time – global climate change. It could also help address the nation’s other crises (fiscal, economic, and energy) at the same time. However, policymakers need to be sure that they are taxing fossil carbon emissions - not sustainably-produced, renewable carbon from bioenergy.
Biomass Co-firing Would Play a Bigger Role Under Clean Energy Standard
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wants to advance discussion of a national clean energy standard. His plan would require 80 percent of electric power to be produced by low-carbon sources by 2035 and 95 percent by 2050. The Energy Information Agency (EIA) modeled what the electric power industry would look like under this scenario and released its findings this week.
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December 7: Hydropower: How Canada-U.S. Partnerships Contribute to America's Clean Energy Economy
Writer: Ned Stowe
Advancing science-based climate solutions
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