[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 43 (Monday, March 11, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       REINTRODUCTION OF THE BIOMASS FOR TRANSPORTATION FUEL ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 11, 2024

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I reintroduce the ``Biomass for 
Transportation Fuel Act,'' formerly titled the ``Biomass and Biogas for 
Electric Vehicles Act'' last Congress. I thank U.S. Senators Angus S. 
King, Jr. (I-ME) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) for sponsoring the companion 
bill and Congressman Jared F. Golden (D-ME) for cosponsoring my House 
bill.
  In passing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public 
Law 110-140), Congress made electricity from renewable biomass--
including biogas and waste-to-energy from feedstocks such as separated 
yard or food waste--eligible under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). 
Despite years of Congressional urging, the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (USEPA) has yet to approve a single biomass 
electricity facility under the program. Some applications for biomass 
electricity--known as ``pathway petitions'' under the RFS program--have 
been pending now for nearly 10 years.
  Current law and USEPA regulations already define ``renewable 
biomass'' to include biogas, namely methane captured from livestock and 
agricultural byproducts, food waste, or residential yard waste. As 
such, our bicameral bill complements the significant investments 
California is making under the state's successful Dairy Digester 
Research and Development Program.
  Currently, the USEPA requires facilities to prove with near-perfect 
traceability that the electricity generated is used as a transportation 
fuel to participate in the RFS program. Most renewable biomass 
facilities are selling electricity into the grid and, therefore, cannot 
prove definitively that each electron generated is used exclusively by 
electric vehicles.
  The ``Biomass for Transportation Fuel Act'' would enable biomass 
facilities generating renewable electricity to finally participate in 
the RFS program. Instead of requiring that biomass facilities meet the 
impossible task of proving that the electricity generated and sold into 
the grid is used directly as a transportation fuel, our bill directs 
the USEPA to finalize the long-overdue federal regulations necessary 
for renewable biomass electricity producers to participate in the RFS 
program.
  Our bill would also authorize USEPA to collect a reasonable fee from 
industry to cover the costs of reviewing any applications for renewable 
electricity submitted under the RFS program. In a 2016 ``advance notice 
of proposed rulemaking,'' the USEPA cited inadequate agency resources 
as a major impediment to approval of renewable electricity under the 
RFS program. The USEPA could waive these application fees for 
municipally or tribally owned biomass facilities under our bill. This 
fee-for-service model is based on the USEPA's regulatory regime under 
the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2003 (title V of Public 
Law 108-199), which is widely regarded as successful and enjoys broad-
based support in Congress.
  Lastly, our bill would make biomass from federal forestlands eligible 
under the RFS. Current law only allows biomass collected from non-
federal lands, including privately-owned land, state- or locally-owned 
public lands, and tribal land held in trust by the federal government, 
to qualify as renewable biomass under the RFS. This restriction is 
arbitrary and hampers market-driven incentives to reduce the overload 
of hazardous fuels for wildfires on our National Forests and other 
federal forestlands. However, I want to be clear that our bill would 
not open federal forestland to timber harvests or commercial hazardous 
fuels removal where such activities are prohibited currently.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all members to cosponsor the ``Biomass for 
Transportation Fuel Act.'' As California and other western states face 
increasingly severe and year-round fire seasons due to the climate 
crisis, we must create a market for forest byproducts to incentivize 
commonsense hazardous fuels reduction. Renewable electricity from 
biomass also helps to reduce our nation's greenhouse gas emissions and 
transition to a clean energy economy. While these measures alone will 
not solve the climate crisis or prevent all catastrophic wildfires, 
they are undoubtedly part of the solution.

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