It can help U.S. launch most green-friendly economy in the world

In his State of the Union address, President Bush announced a massive increase in the national renewable fuel mandate, requiring 35 billion gallons of biofuels to be blended in the United States by 2017.

I applaud the president's bold vision for seeing the need to make ethanol's promise real: to move biofuels from the niche market of gasoline additives to the mainstream market for fuels. Biofuels now account for just 2 percent of the nation's fuel supply, so currently they can't make a significant contribution to increasing energy security and reducing climate change. One of the keys to solving both these problems is to ramp up ethanol production and use, the right way.

However, the courage to roll out such a large vision must be matched with the responsibility of getting it right. If the success of the policy is measured only by the sheer volume of biofuel produced, the inadvertent consequence could be an expansion of coal-fired ethanol plants, pressure to grow feed stocks without appropriate environmental safeguards, and no reward for innovative processing methods. The resulting increases in air, water and climate pollution could be disastrous for farmers, our nation and the planet.

There is a way to shape this initiative so that it hits the "sweet spot" of reducing climate change, strengthening our national security, boosting farm profitability and revitalizing rural America's economy. The key would be for the president to link his new initiative to the creation of a national low carbon fuels standard similar the one that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently announced.

Carbon is shorthand for the various greenhouse gases known to cause climate change. A low carbon fuel standard would measure and account for the greenhouse gases emitted over the entire lifecycle process of making transportation fuels. Depending on how they are produced, biofuels have great potential to reduce greenhouse gases — as well as water pollution — at many stages: how feed stocks are grown, how biofuels are processed, and in the potential to use these fuels locally where they are created. All these benefits could add value to the biofuel production process. In addition to jump-starting the market for environmentally positive biofuels, a low carbon fuel standard could even launch a second market, for the climate pollution reductions that low-carbon biofuels can achieve.

By accounting for and valuing the greenhouse gas emission reductions that innovative biofuel production can deliver, a low carbon fuel standard can enable the president's initiative to launch the most efficient, environmentally friendly, rural economy in the world. It would reward smart biofuel production methods such as capturing methane — a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide — from livestock manure, and using that methane to power biorefineries. It would enable our biofuel producers to take the lead in the low-carbon economy of the future. Matching the president's vision with a low carbon fuel standard could be the equivalent of an Apollo Project for biofuels.

What makes this approach so powerful is that much of the biofuel that will be created to meet the new goal could be produced in ways that are extremely efficient — if government provides that incentive. A low carbon fuel standard would encourage farmers to broaden the feedstocks beyond just corn, and to use feedstocks that require less energy to grow. These new biofuels will have a much lower carbon impact, so why not reward them, especially since there simply is not enough corn-growing capacity in the country to meet even half of the mandate that the president may propose?

Our country has begun a larger conversation about a path forward on energy, climate change and national security. Biofuels are one piece of how we solve that puzzle. Now is exactly the right time to put forward a big picture vision for what America needs in terms of biofuels.

It is precisely because there is so much to gain — and possibly to lose — that this vision needs to be placed in the broader discussion about meeting all of America's energy and environmental needs. A low carbon fuel standard is the crucial tool for helping to make the 60 billion gallon biofuel goal an environmentally responsible reality for American ethanol producers.

Mr. President, you have a great opportunity. But to make it real, we've got to get it right.

Sara Hessenflow Harper serves as a national security and climate policy analyst for Environmental Defense. She wrote this commentary for the McClatchy-Tribune News Service.