Ecolog:
While I agree with the need for brevity without levity, and the necessity of
avoiding confusing bureaucrats (especially in high public office--aka
patronage positions), it would seem that either some mention of the relevant
net energy calculations should be included or simultaneously transmitted to
other agencies, the press, etc. Journalists may find it difficult to tease
out the essence from such an abstruse epistle, however, so a plain-language
press-release might be useful if the unwashed masses are to be more informed
than misinformed (left in the clutches of Mad Ave hired guns). How even such
an august body as the UCS can, in their wildest narcissism, imagine that
they can counterweight the ad campaigns and strategically-placed propaganda
is a limp fantasy. Much more than carefully ciphered letters will be needed
to change the present course in the slightest, much less get the job done.
In California, the mass mastication of chaparral and other wildland fuels is
a serious business, on the track of millions (or is it billions?) of
"stimulus" dollars and other ways of picking the public pocket. Companies
are already looking for processing plant locations in the midst of the
"fuel."
WT
PS: As a matter of direct interest to ecologists, the momentum of the
multitudes is to remove the fuel from large tracts of wildlands as a "fire
control" measure, burning what they can't "harvest" for biofuel.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cliff Duke" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 1:23 PM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Letter on Biofuels and Land Use April 15 signing
deadline
The Union of Concerned Scientists is helping organize a letter on indirect
land use and biofuels. It is a national letter that calls for California
to account for biofuel pollution from land use change and other major
sources of emissions in the state's proposed Low Carbon Fuels Standard
(LCFS). The deadline for signatures is April 15, 2009. You can read the
letter and sign on at
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/what_you_can_do/scientists-letter-iLUC.html.
While the letter explicitly addresses the California regulation, we are
confident it will also be relevant to the ongoing Federal rule-making
process for the Renewable Fuel Standard.
If done right, the California low carbon fuel standard will reduce global
warming pollution from transportation fuels and spur a whole new
generation of cleaner fuels.
But the standard needs to account for all major sources of global warming
pollution to be effective. Land use change that occurs indirectly as
agricultural land expands to accommodate biofuel feedstocks is a major
category of biofuel pollution. Increased demand for biofuels pushes up
commodity prices, which can induce farmers around the world to convert
lands into agriculture. Some industries, however, have suggested that
these indirect land use change emissions should be excluded from the LCFS.
Several leading scientists have joined in an appeal to their colleagues to
speak in a unified voice on the urgent need for the standard to account
for all major sources of emissions from biofuels.
If you go to the URL below you can review the details and sign on:
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/what_you_can_do/scientists-letter-iLUC.html
The Call to action on Biofuels and Land Use Change is open nationally to
Ph.D. professionals at universities and research institutions, who have
expertise relevant to the scientific and economic dimensions of climate
change or of land use change, including research related to biofuels,
agriculture, forestry, and land use patterns.
Please join me in supporting this effort.
Sincerely,
Jeremy I. Martin, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
Clean Vehicles Group
Union of Concerned Scientists
1825 K Street NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006-1232
202-331-6946
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