Clean Fuels, oilseed groups urge Biden administration to use GREET model for SAF tax incentives

Clean Fuels Alliance America, the American Soybean Association, the National Oilseed Processors Association, and the U.S. Canola Association delivered a letter Sept. 19 to John Podesta, senior advisor to President Joe Biden for clean-energy innovation and implementation, urging the Biden administration to support the investments made by U.S. companies and farmers who are ramping up production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The trade associations whose combined memberships represent the entire value chain for SAF production urge the administration to explicitly recognize the most recent version of the Argonne National Laboratory’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model as the “similar methodology” option specified in the Inflation Reduction Act for determining SAF tax-credit eligibility.

“U.S. producers of SAF and their partners in farming and oilseed processing should be able to rely on the GREET model to calculate the value of SAF credits,” the groups state in the letter.

“Without this, our combined members and others in the industry may not be able to follow through on investments in SAF production,” the associations write.

The letter asks the administration to consider the billions of dollars that members of the associations have made to build new or optimize existing production facilities and expand availability of sustainable, homegrown, low-carbon feedstocks like soybean oil and canola.

The letter further points out that the SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap recognizes that the goal to produce 3 billion gallons of SAF by 2030 will rely on expanded use of soybean oil and canola.

The letter is available here on Clean Fuels’ website.

“It’s inconceivable that Congress would create, or the treasury department would implement, a clean-energy incentive that discourages use of sustainable, homegrown feedstocks,” said Kurt Kovarik, Clean Fuels’ vice president of federal affairs.

“We are asking the administration to follow through on its goals and enable the aviation sector to access better, cleaner fuels in the near term,” Kovarik added.

“Our industry has consistently contributed real-world data to Argonne to ensure that the GREET model is the most accurate, up-to-date lifecycle-carbon emission-assessment tool.”