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ST. LOUIS RECORD

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Bailey calls for California to end biofuels amendment

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Andrew Bailey | Andrew Bailey Official Website

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has called on California regulators to halt a proposed amendment he claims will damage Missouri's agricultural and biofuels industries. 

In the letter sent to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), Bailey urged the agency’s chair to rescind the amendment, which would limit the amount of soybean oil used for carbon credits in California and impose new reporting requirements on biofuel producers in Missouri.

Bailey argued that the proposed amendment, aimed at reducing emissions, unfairly targets Missouri farmers and biofuel producers, potentially blocking Missouri-made biofuels from the California market. 

"Missouri’s agriculture and biofuels industries are vital to the success of our state, so I will do everything in my power to protect Missouri farmers," Bailey said in a provided statement. "I will not allow radical climate activists in California to attack our family farms and hinder our state’s economic growth."

The amendment proposes a cap on soybean oil credits at 20 percent, along with enhanced reporting requirements that Bailey said would require Missouri farmers to disclose sensitive operational information. 

He argues that these stipulations would add unnecessary burdens to Missouri’s agriculture sector, which plays a significant role in the state economy. According to state data, Missouri is home to more than 88,000 farms, contributing billions of dollars annually.

Bailey also criticized CARB’s process for moving the amendment forward, noting it bypassed public workshops and formal rulemaking procedures. 

He raised concerns that the amendment grants CARB’s Executive Officer significant latitude to set indirect land use change (ILUC) values. 

This, Bailey argues, would allow the agency to penalize Missouri farmers based on factors such as land cover, crop yield, and emissions without a transparent public review.

"Missouri farmers have a long history of environmental stewardship and should be viewed as a key part of the solution to improve air quality in California and throughout the country," Bailey said in the letter. 

He suggested that Missouri's agricultural practices align with national environmental goals, emphasizing that the proposed CARB changes unfairly disadvantage his state’s biofuels industry.

"Missouri agriculture is a $93.7 billion industry," Bailey said in the letter. "We are home to nearly 88,000 farms, the vast majority of them owned and operated by family farmers."

Bailey said Missouri ranks seventh nationally in soybean production and ninth in corn production.

"Missouri’s seven biodiesel plants and six ethanol plants provide an essential market for our state’s top crops," he said in the letter."

CARB’s proposed amendments, singularly focused on biofuels, will present serious risks to Missouri farmers and biofuel producers, he wrote in the Nov. 1 letter. "I take particular issue with your agency’s assertion that the biofuels industry is in a period of 'rapid expansion of production and feedstock demand,' which simply does not match the present depressed market conditions facing our farmers."

To make matters worse, CARB has proposed these devastating changes without conducting public workshops and a formal rulemaking, Bailey wrote.

  "Equally troubling is your agency’s plan to allow the Executive Officer the ability to assign more conservative ILUC values based on land cover, crop yield and emissions data without buy-in from America’s farmers and producers," Bailey wrote in the letter.

Bailey called for an immediate halt to the amendment, stressing the potential harm to Missouri’s economy and its critical agricultural sector. 

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