Advanced Biofuels: Why we want them. How we get them.

When it comes to energy, the country is facing quite a few challenges these days. Some of the biggest questions we find ourselves trying to answer are: How can we drastically cut our emissions to do our part in the global fight against climate change, without hampering America’s potential for economic growth? How do we drive U.S. innovation in an era of limited federal R&D budgets? And how can America continue to attract investment from around the world, and create opportunities for highly-paying jobs at a time of stiff global competition?

There is no silver bullet solution. Answering any one of these challenges will require America to use a number of tools. We think advanced biofuels can help the nation in all three of these cases, and is a solution that we already happen to have easy access to in our tool belt.

Thanks to supportive policies like the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the U.S. has become the global leader in advanced biofuel development, creating environmental benefits and economic growth opportunities all across the country. But now the Environmental Protection Agency has begun to reconsider how it implements the RFS—and America’s future in this vital sector hangs in the balance.

Panelists:

• JESSIE STOLARK, Environmental and Energy Study Institute
• AARON WHITESEL, DuPont
• JEFF NAVIN, Boundary Stone Partners
• AMY DAVIS, Novozymes
• RYAN FITZPATRICK, Moderator, Third Way

Presentations

Jessie Stolark

Jessie is a Policy Associate at the Environmental and Energy Study Institute—a non-profit education and policy organization. Jessie leads EESI's Sustainable Biomass Program, which covers issues pertaining to climate and biomass, including biofuels, bioenergy, agriculture, and forestry. Jessie explained some of the environmental benefits of advanced biofuels, and how those benefits can be successfully verified. View her presentation here.

Aaron Whitesel

Aaron is a DuPont Government Affairs Senior Manager based in Washington, D.C. where he focuses on the company’s broad agriculture and biofuels portfolios. Prior to working for DuPont, Aaron worked on Capitol Hill as Senator Richard Lugar’s senior advisor on agricultural issues as well as an advisor on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Aaron spoke about some of the economic benefits of U.S. advanced biofuels development, and what parts of the country are capable of seizing opportunities for growth. View his presentation here.

Jeff Navin

Jeff is a Partner at Boundary Stone Partners, and a Visiting Senior Fellow at Third Way. Previously, Jeff served as Acting Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of Energy, and Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of Labor. He also served as Chief of Staff to Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, and as Research Director to Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle. Having worked on these issues in both the executive and legislative branches, Jeff offered his insight on the efforts that have been made across the federal government to promote advanced biofuel development in the U.S. View his presentation here.

Amy Davis

Amy is the Government Relations manager for Novozymes in North America. In this capacity she represents Novozymes, an international industrial biotech company and enzyme producer, in Washington, DC and handles all US Federal and State Government Relations activities for the company. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is the most impactful federal biofuels policy we’ve got—and also the most complicated. So we asked Amy to unpack this complex policy for us, including changes in RFS implementation that EPA has recently proposed. View her presentation here.