The Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Oct. 21 decision to make permanent a pilot program boosting financial incentives for cultivation of biomass fuel crops jettisons an earlier proposal to require that producers meet lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) standards, raising doubts about whether the program will spur production that qualifies for credit under EPA's renewable fuel standard (RFS).rnThe department's decision also appears to only partially address several gaps EPA had identified in USDA's environmental review of the program, including alleged flaws in how it addressed GHG emissions and conventional air pollutants.
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