WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Biotechnology Industry Organization today congratulated INEOS Bio as it announced the start up of commercial production of cellulosic biofuel at the Indian River BioEnergy Center in Vero Beach, Fla. The milestone achievement is visible progress in achieving the goals of the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Brent Erickson, Executive Vice President of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section, said, “The production of commercial scale cellulosic biofuels is a very significant achievement and a direct result of American biotech innovation. INEOS Bio’s biorefinery is the first to prove a biotech process successful at commercial scale. It has already created hundreds of jobs and brought economic growth – as well as renewable electricity – to its Florida community. This shows the Renewable Fuel Standard is working, plain and simple.
“There are many additional projects scheduled to achieve commercial production over the next few years. The industry has already invested more than $5 billion over the past six years to commercialize the technology, and investors are ready to commit more, following the success of first-of-a-kind facilities. These projects have created several thousand jobs, and growth of the industry could create several hundred thousand more.
“The RFS has encouraged this investment and progress. Current efforts to destabilize the program are short-sighted and motivated solely by the oil refining industry’s desire to block competition and consumer choice at the pump. If Congress does what the oil refining industry is asking and repeals or revises the RFS at this critical juncture, it will strangle the advanced biofuels baby in the cradle. The INEOS announcement is just the first of many advanced biofuel announcements to come over the next few years. If there was ever a time when Congress needed to keep the RFS in place it is now, when the advanced biofuels industry is reaching these milestones. When oil refiners attack the RFS, they are attacking American ingenuity and innovation in order to keep their stranglehold on American fuel consumers.”
About BIO
BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world’s largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIO produces BIOtechNOW, an online portal and monthly newsletter chronicling “innovations transforming our world.” Subscribe to BIOtechNOW.
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