While the presidential candidates have been engaged in a loud debate over developing alternative energy, the Massachusetts government has been taking matters into its own hands.
Massachusetts became the country's first state to provide a tax incentive for use of non-corn-based biofuel this summer when it passed the Clean Energy Biofuels Act.
The new law, signed by Gov. Deval Patrick on July 28, requires biofuel to constitute a portion of all fuel sold for heating homes in the state and mandates tighter restrictions on carbon emissions in the transportation sector.
"The world is waiting for the next generation of clean, renewable alternatives to petroleum fuels, and Massachusetts is poised to deliver," Patrick said in a press release. "This new law will help us develop advanced biofuels and get them to market, without driving up food prices. We want these new fuels in our tanks and these new jobs in our economy here in Massachusetts."
While other states provide tax exemptions for food-based ethanol, a fuel whose energy-saving properties are now widely debated, Massachusetts is the first to provide incentives for non-corn-based alternatives such as those derived from switchgrass, agricultural waste and forest products.
According to the Massachusetts Advanced Biofuels Task Force, a committee created last year and consisting of biofuels industry and legislators, an advanced biofuels industry could potentially contribute up to $1 billion a year to the Massachusetts economy by 2025.
