Susan Stava for The New York Times Massachusetts regulators are favoring — for now — biofuels derived from waste feedstocks like cooking grease. Despite some grumbling from the biotech industry, two of the leading biodiesel distributors in Massachusetts are generally pleased with the state’s move last week to promote biofuels processed from waste — as opposed to food crops or emerging feedstocks, like algae.
“It’s excellent for me,” said Ed Burke, chairman of Dennis K. Burke Inc., a fuel company in Chelsea, Mass., noting that feedstocks like restaurant grease are about a third cheaper than oil from soybeans.
Jesse Reich, the chief executive officer of Baystate Biofuels of North Andover, Mass., said the state’s decision won’t change his firm’s plans to open a 350,000-gallon biodiesel storage and distribution depot next month to supply fuel to state retailers.
“We were planning and designing our company to use waste feedstock anyway,” Mr. Reich said.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts last year enacted the Clean Energy Biofuels Act, one of the nation’s most forward-looking renewable energy laws.
With a mandated volume blend of 2 to 3 percent coming in 2011, the legislation says eligible biofuels must deliver a net 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gases compared to the original fossil fuel.
But because state regulators continue to grapple with the task of conducting those assessments, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources chose to err on the side of caution by announcing that initially, only fuels derived from waste feedstocks, such as frying oil or rendered animal fats, would get an automatic pass.
Dr. Reich cites life-cycle assessments conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of California showing that biodiesel made from waste products reduces greenhouse gases by as much as 85 percent.
But Brent Erickson, the executive vice-president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, said in a statement that the restriction is “a bad precedent” that will harm the state’s burgeoning bioscience sector.
“By permitting only biofuels made from waste feedstocks under its mandate, Massachusetts is preventing its own biotech companies from deploying their advanced technology to turn other sources of renewable biomass into advanced biofuels,” Mr. Erickson said.
Yet both Mr. Reich and Mr. Burke said they expect state regulators to fine-tune the provisions as the biofuel industry ramps up for 2011. The proposed rule doesn’t prevent producers from blending in other forms of biodiesel.
Massachusetts’ move is the latest installment in the complex debate swirling around the actual sustainability of biofuels such as corn ethanol, which is considered to be an energy-intensive commodity, or biodiesel derived from palm oil grown on Malaysian or Indonesian plantations that were once rainforests.
Some environmental groups say these first generation biofuels produce little benefit in terms of greenhouse gas reduction, drive up food prices, and create unintended consequences like deforestation.
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