Bioenergy Feedstocks

• Author: Blake Hudson and Uma Outka
• Pages: 648-669

Page 648 Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States

I. Introduction

is chapter considers how the cultivation of bioen-

ergy feedstocks c an advance the goal of deep decarbon-

ization in the United States as envisioned by the Deep

Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP) report for

the United States and by the Obama Administ ration in

the United States Mid-Century Strategy for Deep Decar-

bonization (MC S)1 (developed in support of the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

Bioenergy feedstocks—in particular feedstock selection,

cultivation, and associated land use change—make up

the initial stage of bioenergy’s carbon cycle, and directly

aect whether and how well bioenergy ca n serve climate

mitigation goals. Bioenergy feedstocks relate closely to

1. T W H, U S M-C S  D

D (2016) [hereinafter M-C R], avail-

able at http://unfccc.int/les/focus/long-term_strategies/application/pdf/

us_mid_century_strategy.pdf.

topics covered in Chapter 26 (Production and Delivery

of Low-Carbon Gaseous Fuels), Chapter 27 (Production

and Delivery of Biofuels), Chapter 30 (Agriculture), and

Chapter 31 (Forestry). e goal of this chapter is to eval-

uate: (1) the degree to which existing U.S. legal regimes

relevant to bioenergy feedstocks align with deep decar-

bonization scenarios, and (2) potential reforms to ensure

that bioenergy feedstocks a re developed in ways consis-

tent with deep decarbonization objectives. roughout

the chapter we engage the ndings of recent studies

that project how decarbonization can be achieved in the

United States. We primarily focus on the DDPP,2 but

also highlig ht scenarios presented in the Obama Admin-

is tr atio n’s MCS report.

2. J H. W  ., P  D D  

U S, U.S. 2050 R, V 1: T R (Deep

Decarbonization Pathways Project & Energy and Environmental Economics,

Inc., 2015), available at http://usddpp.org/downloads/2014-technical-report.

pdf [hereinafter DDPP T R].

Chapter 25

Bioenergy Feedstocks

by Blake Hudson and Uma Outka

Summary

Renewable bioenergy oers an alternative to fossil fuels for transportation and electric power, the two highest

greenhouse gas-emitting sectors in the United States. Bioenergy feedstocks are cultivated crops, agricultural and

forest residues, algae, sewage and livestock manures, and other organic materials. Feedstock selection and cul-

tivation begins the bioenergy supply chain, followed by handling, processing and distribution, and, eventually,

end use conversion, producing fuels to power motor vehicles and generate electricity. To achieve deep decar-

bonization across the U.S. economy, reducing carbon emissions at every stage of the bioenergy supply chain is

paramount. As this chapter explains, there are at least four primar y pathways for legal reform of the bioenergy

feedstocks sector: land use prescriptions that preserve and expand carbon sinks and that ensure feedstocks are

cultivated consistent with decarbonization objectives; subsidy programs that create value in land’s carbon sink

potential and shape cultivation techniques consistent with decarbonization objectives; renewable energy man-

dates that stipulate credit for feedstocks on certication of approved cultivation methods and land use change

criteria; and direct regulation of bioenergy end uses conditioned on feedstock cultivation processes. Although

nationwide policy approaches would be most eective on the 2050 time horizon, policies along these pathways

may be pursued independently at the federal, state, and local levels, and in some instances via private environ-

mental governance mechanisms. Accordingly, the goal of deep decarbonization warrants legal innovation and

reform wherever politically feasible.

Page 649

e chapter is organized into three pa rts. Section II

explains the signic ance of bioenergy feedstock s for decar-

bonization goals. It highlig hts legal and policy consider-

ations that aect feedstock selection and cultivation and

identies four areas in which lega l reform could reduce

energy-sector emissions associated with bioenergy feed-

stocks: (1) land use prescriptions, (2) subsidy programs,

(3)renewable energy mandates, and (4) direct regulation

of bioenergy end uses.

Section III considers in greater depth the role of bio-

energy in the United States’ transportation and electricity

sectors, and situates bioenergy feedstocks within the land

use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) framework

for assessing U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from

those sectors, as utiliz ed by the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change. It then compares how

bioenergy may contribute to decarbonization goals in the

United States under alternative scenarios presented by the

DDPP and MCS.

Section IV outlines legal a nd policy issues pertaining to

feedstock selection and cultivation for bioenergy feedstock s,

as well as legal pat hways for achieving deep decarboniza-

tion in the sector. Legal and policy is sues include potential

challenges posed by federalism and the need to reconcile

competing land uses. e section then elaborates on the

four legal approaches identied in Section II to showcase

the potential for legal reform along each pathway. In these

ways, this section complements the pathways articu lated

for the end uses of bioenergy addressed in other chapters.

Pathway #1—prescriptive land use/resource management

regulation—considers approaches relevant to both private

and federal land. Pathway #2 considers reform to subsi-

dies and other land use incentives relevant to bioenergy

feedstoc ks. Pathway #3—renewable energy mandates—

identies possible reforms to the federal Renewable Fuel

Standard (RFS) and state renewable portfolio standards

(RPS) that would better support low-carbon feedstock s.

Finally, Pathway #4 identies how direct regulation of

feedstock products, via standa rds and certication, could

be used to inuence feedstock cultivation practices.

II. The Role of Bioenergy in Deep

Decarbonization

Bioenergy represents a pathway to carbon reduction in the

energy sector by replacing primary fossil fuel resources

with renewable, mostly plant-based fuel sources. is sec-

tion provides an overview of bioenergy feedstocks a nd the

legal and policy context that sh apes their selection, cultiva-

tion, and eective contribution to decarbonization goals.

A. Bioenergy Feedstocks

Bioenergy refers to energy produced from biomass. Bio-

mass is typica lly characterized as organic matter burned to

produce heat energy or processed into gas or liquid fuel.3

Today, however, biomass may also be converted to energy

through thermochem ical (thermal ga sication), biochemi-

cal (anaerobic digestion, fermentation), or chemical pro-

cesses (chemical agents that create liquid fuels).4 Bioenergy

feedstocks are the various forms of biomass—including

wood-based energy crops, timber and agricultural waste,

algae, oil seed crops, and other organic material—that

make up the “essential rst link in the biomass-to-bioen-

ergy supply chain.”5 Noncultivated biomass, like sewage,

municipal solid waste, and livestock manures, may also

be used as a bioenergy feedstock.6 Some feedstocks are

used to generate electric power and generate heat; others

are processed and rened into liquid or gaseous f uels (see

Chapters 26 and 27). Accordingly, biomass production is

relevant to the two highest GHG-emitting sectors in the

United States: electricity and transportation.7

While other chapters focus on later stage s of the bioen-

ergy supply chain—rening, processing, and combustion

of biofuels, production of electric power from biomass—

this chapter focuses on importa nt land use issues related to

growing and collecting feed stocks and their implications

for bioenergy’s role in decarbonization. In this context,

decarbonization results from ensu ring that, at a minimum,

land use for feedstock production results in no net release

3. See U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Bioenergy—Full Text Glossary, http://

energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/full-text-glossary#bioenergy (last visited Dec. 18,

2017).

4. Wisconsin Grasslands Bioenergy Network, Bioenergy Conversion Technologies,

http://www.wgbn.wisc.edu/conversion/bioenergy-conversion-technologies

(last visited Dec. 18, 2017).

5. DOE, Biomass Feedstocks, https://energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/biomass-

feedstocks (last visited Dec. 18, 2017). Industrial and municipal solid waste

is sometimes included in this category as well. See DOE, Feedstock Supply,

http://energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/feedstock-supply (last visited Dec. 18,

2017).

6. See DOE, Feedstock Supply, supra note 5. See also M H. L 

., DOE, 2016 B-T R: A D R

  T B, V 1: E A  F-

 xvii (2016), available at https://energy.gov/sites/prod/les/2016/12/

f34/2016_billion_ton_report_12.2.16_0.pdf.

7. DDPP T R, supra note 2, at 8; J H. W  .,

P  D D   U S, U.S. 2050

R, V 2: P I  D D 

 U S (Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project & Energy

and Environmental Economics, Inc., 2015), available at http://usddpp.

org/downloads/2015-report-on-policy-implications.pdf [hereinafter DDPP

P R].