AFT statement: U.S. agriculture needs the Renewable Energy Standard
Jul. 30, 2010
AFT statement: U.S. agriculture needs the Renewable Energy Standard --
"With the Senate considering energy legislation this week, Congress must seize this chance to pass a strong national Renewable Energy Standard (RES)," says Jon Scholl, President, American Farmland Trust.
"A robust RES will bolster the farm economy, put the brakes on climate change and drive America towards energy independence. That's why AFT joined the National Farmers Union, the National Association of Wheat Growers, and the International Biochar Initiative in calling on Senators Reid (D-NV), McConnell (R-KY), Bingaman (D-NM), and Murkowski (R-AK) to support a 25-percent by 2025 RES.
"Based on ACORE research, the 25-percent by 2025 RES measure could lead to more than $15 billion in income to farmers, ranchers, and rural communities, create more than 30,000 rural jobs and reduce hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
"Analysis conducted by Informa Economics, Inc., for AFT and the National Association of Wheat Growers on the benefits of clean energy legislation, found that 94 percent of the demand increase in renewable electricity under a similar House RES proposal is expected to come from biomass (agricultural residues, energy crops, forest residues, and urban waste/mill residues).
"With more than a third of all Senators having either voted for, or signed a letter of support for an RES, we encourage the Senate to build on their previous efforts in the Senate Energy Committee's American Clean Energy Leadership Act, and include a 25-percent by 2025 RES in the energy bill under consideration now."
SOURCE: American Farmland Trust.
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