The USDA is releasing a report on renewable transportation fuels and the role the agency will play in development of those biofuels.

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the report comes as the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) gets ready to kick in on July 1st and will require that 36 billion gallons of biofuel per year be in America’s fuel supply by 2022:

“The Obama Administration has made domestic production of renewable energy a national priority because it will create jobs, combat global warming, reduce fossil fuel dependence and lay a strong foundation for a strong 21st Century rural economy, and I am confident that we can meet the threshold of producing 36 billion gallons of biofuel annually by 2022,” Vilsack said. “As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day, we must reaffirm our commitment to bring our country closer to complete energy independence and this report provides a roadmap to achieve that goal.”

Vilsack says the ag department’s role will be to identify numerous biomass feedstocks to be utilized in developing biofuels and to call for the funding of further investments in research and development of feedstocks, sustainable production and management systems, efficient conversion technologies & high-value bioproducts, and decision support and policy analysis tools.

“Our focus at USDA is primarily on how do you build biorefineries in all parts of the country, how do you take advantage of the most efficient and effective feedtsocks that are available in each region of the country, and how do you create enough blender pumps so there’s customer convenience to build greater demand on Detroit and other auto manufacturers to produce the kinds of cars to use more ethanol.” He adds the program needs to go national, on a governmental and private business level, for the biggest impact.

You can read the report at www.USDA.gov.