The announcement was made at a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors from around the USA, where the President laid out three measures that will work in concert to boost biofuels production and reduce the US' dependence on foreign oil.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalised a rule to implement the long-term Renewable Fuels Standard requiring biofuels production to grow from last year’s 11.1 billion gallons to 36 billion gallons in 2022, with 21 billion gallons to come from advanced biofuels.
• The US Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule on the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that would provide financing to increase the conversion of biomass to bioenergy.
• The President’s Biofuels Interagency Working Group has released its first report – Growing America’s Fuel [pdf], which lays out a strategy to advance the development and commercialisation of a sustainable biofuels industry to meet or exceed the US’ biofuels targets.

President Obama also announced a Presidential Memorandum creating an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

Obama’s remarks

President Obama said: “Now, I happen to believe that we should pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill. It will make clean energy the profitable kind of energy, and the decision by other nations to do this is already giving their businesses a leg up on developing clean energy jobs and technologies.

“But even if you disagree on the threat posed by climate change, investing in clean energy jobs and businesses is still the right thing to do for our economy. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is still the right thing to do for our security. We can’t afford to spin our wheels while the rest of the world speeds ahead.”