NBB Responds to The Guardian July 4th Article on Biofuels

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.– NBB Chief Executive Officer Joe Jobe released the following statement today in response to a July 4th article in The Guardian:

“Americans are staying home on the Fourth of July holiday as a result of skyrocketing gas prices. So it’s curious that critics would take this opportunity to smear alternative fuels when the addition of biofuels to our energy supply is one of the only things keeping prices from rising even faster. The Guardian's article about an unpublished assessment of biofuels smacks of a cheap shot, by a British newspaper, at the U.S. government on Independence Day.

“It’s typical of status quo supporters to ignore the vast majority of research done by the USDA and others that has proven emphatically biofuels play an insignificant role in global food supply and pricing, but an increasingly significant role in expanding our domestic energy supply. Credible fact-based research has demonstrated repeatedly that soaring petroleum costs are the main culprit behind higher food prices. American consumers don’t have to look beyond their own family budgest to figure that out.

“The U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy say that the estimated increase in the global price of soybeans and soybean oil would increase the global food commodity price index by a mere 1-2 percent. In the U.S., according to DOE and USDA, food prices have increased by only about 4.8 percent. Of that increase, ethanol and biodiesel consumption accounted for only about 4-5 percent while other factors, like increased energy costs, accounted for 95-96 percent of the increase.

“In 2007, only 12 percent of U.S. soybean production and 4 percent of global soybean production was used by the U.S. biodiesel industry to produce fuel. From the soybeans used to produce biodiesel, 81% of each soybean is protein that enters the market for either human consumption or animal feed. Technological advances are also certain to increase soybean yields from existing acreage in the future. In addition, the industry is aggressively using or developing other sources for biodiesel – such as restaurant grease, animal fat, corn oil derived from ethanol production, camelina, and algae.”

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