Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said he would like to see any provisions related to indirect land use changes and ethanol stripped from the U.S. Senate's version of climate legislation, according to the New York Times.

Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., included provisions friendly to corn-based ethanol in the House version of the bill. The House bill temporarily blocks the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from calculating ILUC in determining corn-based ethanol's carbon footprint. The House bill bars EPA from including international ILUC for five years, and requires EPA and USDA to reach a consensus on any models used to calculate those effects.

"We want no indirect land use, things like that in there -- there is no scientific basis for that," Harkin told the Times.

The House bill assigns USDA as overseer of programs that would offset emissions with conservation efforts on farms, ranches and forests.

(New York Times, July 9, 2009)
(http://www.nytimes.com/…)

DTN: This morning it was announced that Senate action on climate change legislation will be delayed until the Senate resumes its session in September. Will this have any affect on the indirect land use change debate or not? (Todd Neeley)