As Obama Picks Cellulosic Advocates, EIA Predicts Shortfall

CNNMoney.com
December 17, 2008: 05:47 PM ET

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. won't be able to meet its mandate to produce 36 billion barrels of biofuel by 2022, according to the government's top energy forecaster.

The Energy Information Administration predicted the technological breakthroughs necessary to produce the advanced ethanol quantities called for in the mandate would mean only around 30 billion barrels will be produced.

The prediction comes as President-elect Barack Obama named his Agriculture Secretary nomination, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who's a proponent of advanced cellulosic ethanol, but an advocate of dropping subsidies for corn- based ethanol.

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