Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Gov. Patrick signs Clean Energy Biofuels Act

By Mass High Tech Staff

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has signed into law the Clean Energy Biofuels Act of 2008, aimed at jump-starting the growth of an advanced biofuels industry in the state.

Filed last November as a joint initiative with Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, the bill gives preferential tax treatment to non-corn-based alternatives to ethanol, and mandates biofuel content (2 percent by 2010 and 5 percent by 2013) in all diesel and home heating fuel sold in the state.

The initiative also proposes a new fuel standard for the region that will encourage a range of emissions-reducing technologies for cars and trucks, according to a statement from the State House.

The Advanced Biofuels Task Force, which was appointed by the three legislators last year to explore the local biofuels industry, presented its final report in April, and legislators applied that information to the new bill.

The bill’s tax exemption is the first of its kind in the country and encourages the development of new fuels using feedstocks not used in the production of food.

While the state has no biofuel production facilities currently operating, the region is home to a number of companies developing technologies used in the production of cellulosic biofuels, such as ethanol from switchgrass. Those ventures include Mascoma Corp. and Verenium Inc. in Cambridge, BioEnergy International LLC in Quincy, and University of Massachusetts Amherst spinout SunEthanol Inc. in Amherst.