President Obama met today with a bipartisan group of governors from around the country and announced a series of steps the administration is taking to boost biofuels production in the United States.  The President’s Biofuels Interagency Working Group released a report spelling out ways to promote the development of the biofuels industry in the United States in connection with the long-term renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons per year by 2022. The report, Growing America’s Fuel, focuses on government strategies to achieve the renewable fuels standard and the target for 100 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels in 2010.  The strategies include supporting the development of first and second generation biofuels with the additional focus on accelerating third generation biofuels development and supporting feedstock research and demonstration. The report addresses the use of regional supply chain systems to ensure all fuels produced are compatible with the U.S. transportation fuel infrastructure.

President Obama also announced the creation of an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage. Representatives from the DOE and the EPA will co-chair the task force which will develop a plan for affordable carbon capture and storage technology in the next ten years, with a goal of bringing five to ten commercial demonstration projects on line by 2016.