Literary Warrant [30]

What has come to the fore — at least in the West — is the dream of total communication itself. Could anything be more desirable and innocent than the superconductivity of electronic media as they arouse the illusion of complete transparency and universal access? In the revolution of the Information Age, openness, communicability, transparency, have become slogans as inspiring as Kant's "Dare to know" used to be. Or his famous precept, in The Critique of Judgment, on a "regard to universal communicability," which he describes as an original social contract "dictated by humanity itself." We begin to believe in a "society of communication," in which the medium is the message, and it tricks us into merging truth and transmissibility.

— Geoffrey Hartman, Scars of the Spirit: The Struggle Against Inauthenticity 145-46 (2002)

Plenty here to communicate.

• Peter Backlund, Anthony Janetos & David Schimel, U.S. Climate Change Science Program & the Subcommittee on Global Change Research, The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States (Final Report, Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.3) (2008)
  
  "There is robust scientific consensus that human-induced climate change is occurring. Records of temperature and precipitation in the United States show trends consistent with the current state of global-scale understanding and observations of change. Observations also show that climate change is currently impacting the nation’s ecosystems and services in significant ways, and those alterations are very likely to accelerate in the future, in some cases dramatically. Current observational capabilities are considered inadequate to fully understand and address the future scope and rate of change in all ecological sectors. Additionally, the complex interactions between change agents such as climate, land use alteration, and species invasion create dynamics that confound simple causal relationships and will severely complicate the development and assessment of mitigation and adaptation strategies."—Abstract.


• beSpacific, New EIA Reports: Alternatives to Traditional Transportation Fuels, Energy Consumption, U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions (May 21, 2008)
  
  A beSpacifc enumeration of recent reports covering alternative transportation fuels, renewable energy consumption, historical residential buildings, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, and a data series on residential energy consumption and expenditures for the two decades prior to 2001.


• beSpacific, Oversight Cmte Releases Documents Regarding the Environmental Protection Agency's California Emissions Waiver (May 19, 2008)
  
  "New documents and testimony obtained by the Committee show that EPA career staff unanimously supported granting California’s request for a waiver to enforce its greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson also supported granting the petition, at least in part, until he communicated with the White House."—United States House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Read the rest of this post . . .

• Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, Human Rights and Natural Disasters: Operational Guidelines and Field Manual on Human Rights Protection in Situations of Natural Disaster (Pilot version) (March 2008)
  
  "To promote and facilitate a rights-based approach to disaster relief, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) adopted Operational Guidelines on Protecting Persons in Natural Disasters in June 2006. This Pilot Manual has been drafted to accompany the Operational Guidelines. It intends to help people in the field to understand the human rights dimensions of their work in disaster response while giving them practical examples and operational steps about how some of these seemingly abstract concepts may be implemented."—Foreword.


• H. Sterling Burnett & D. Sean Shurtleff, National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), Capping CO2 Emissions, Boosting Energy Costs (Brief Analysis no. 617) (May 14, 2008)
  

  "Bills recently introduced in Congress would control emissions through cap-and-trade schemes. They would place an upper limit, or cap, on the overall level of greenhouse gas emissions, and then distribute or sell to companies or industries emissions credits—rights to emit specific amounts of greenhouse gases. The credits could then be sold in a greenhouse gas market. Companies capable of cutting emissions relatively cheaply or making deeper emission reductions than required could sell their excess emission allowances to companies unable to meet their goals. The idea is that industries would find the most efficient ways to reach the desired reductions. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the market value of emissions allowances (in 2007 dollars) could reach $50 billion to $300 billion per year by 2020, depending on the scheme adopted.

  "However, the cap-and-trade proposals unveiled so far would harm the U.S. economy, disproportionately hurt the poor and fail to produce the environmental benefits promised by proponents."
  

• Karan Capoor, Sustainable Development Operations & Philippe Ambrosi, Climate Change Team, World Bank, State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2008 (May 2008)
  
  "The report’s data shows that the global carbon market doubled or tripled in value for all segments, except for projects in developing countries which saw a leveling off of market volumes transacted under the Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM)—from 537 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2006 to 551 MtCO2e in 2007. The report’s analysis cautions that market momentum may be at a crossroads for many developing countries just as they are beginning to reap the benefits of carbon finance and are stepping forward to show that they are making efforts to mitigate climate change through advancing clean energy technology. The report shows that the CDM is delivering on clean energy—energy efficiency and renewable energy accounted for nearly two-thirds of the transacted volumes in the project-based market."—Press release no. 2008/305/SDN (May 7, 2008)


• Michael D. Christian et al., Definitive Care for the Critically Ill During a Disaster: Current Capabilities and Limitations CHEST, v.133, no.5 (May 2008)
  
  "In the twentieth century, rarely have mass casualty events yielded hundreds or thousands of critically ill patients requiring definitive critical care. However, future catastrophic natural disasters, epidemics or pandemics, nuclear device detonations, or large chemical exposures may change usual disaster epidemiology and require a large critical care response. This article reviews the existing state of emergency preparedness for mass critical illness and presents an analysis of limitations to support the suggestions of the Task Force on Mass Casualty Critical Care, which are presented in subsequent articles. Baseline shortages of specialized resources such as critical care staff, medical supplies, and treatment spaces are likely to limit the number of critically ill victims who can receive life-sustaining interventions. The deficiency in critical care surge capacity is exacerbated by lack of a sufficient framework to integrate critical care within the overall institutional response and coordination of critical care across local institutions and broader geographic areas."—Abstract.


• Climate Counts, Company Scorecard (2008)
  
  "Developed by Climate Counts with leading climate experts in business, academics, and advocacy, the Scorecard is a tool that your business or organization can use to continually self-audit your progress in taking climate change seriously. More broadly, you can use the Scorecard to influence your supply chain to embody your own organization's climate commitment."


• Climate Registry, General Reporting Protocol (Ver. 1.1) (May 2008)
  
  "The Climate Registry is a nonprofit partnership developing an accurate, complete, consistent and transparent greenhouse gas emissions measurement protocol that is capable of supporting voluntary and mandatory greenhouse gas emission reporting policies for its Members and Reporters. It will provide a verified set of greenhouse gas emissions data from its Reporters supported by a robust accounting and verification infrastructure."


• Liese Coulter, Pep Canadell & Shobhakar Dhakal, Global Carbon Project (GCP), Carbon Reductions and Offsets: A GCP Report for the ESSP (GCP Report no. 6) (July 15, 2007)
  

  "Voluntary carbon offsets are most beneficial if the purchase of offsets is preceded by the implementation of measures to reduce or avoid emissions.

  "While there are currently a number of competing standards for voluntary offsets with somewhat different criteria, verification has proven to be a step in the offset process that cannot be missed. The early open-ended and innovative carbon offsets were developed independently and initiated the market. Many of these providers are contributing their experience to the new standards, which foster maturity and balance through agreed measures and milestones.

  "As with any investment, financial support for offsets has broader implications for communities, ecosystems and development than the initial purpose intended. Credible carbon offsets must yield the promised level of emission reduction as a primary requirement. There are real economic, social and environmental benefits to be considered when selecting among credible projects, based on additional sustainable outcomes reflecting the values of individuals and organisations.

  "Carbon offset projects also allow developed nations to direct funding to less developed countries, which have limited capacity to deal with the most immediate climate change effects, yet shoulder the cost of implementing new low-carbon technologies."—Executive Summary.
  

• James Hamilton, CCH Principal Analyst, Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 Removes Enron Loophole and Reforms Electronic Energy Markets (2008)
  
  "A measure reauthorizing the CFTC and closing the Enron loophole is included in the massive Farm Bill that has been reported out of a House-Senate conference, passed by Congress, and awaits presidential action. Provisions in the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (HR 2419) would end the Enron-inspired exemption from federal oversight now provided to electronic energy trading markets set up for large traders. It will ensure the ability of the CFTC to police all U.S. energy exchanges to prevent price manipulation and excessive speculation. These bipartisan provisions would give the CFTC the ability to scrutinize these transactions in energy commodities and prosecute traders that are manipulating energy prices. The House passed the bill by a 318-106 vote; the Senate vote was 81-15."—Introduction.


• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), IPCC Scoping Meeting on Renewable Energy Sources: Proceedings (January 20-25, 2008)
  
  "The document, edited by Olav Hohmeyer and Tom Trittin, includes articles by scholars in the area, presented at the meeting held in January." Topics include renewable energy, biomass, solar energy, hydropower, investment, and more.


• K.L. Kimbrough et al., National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), An Assessment of Two Decades of Contaminant Monitoring in the Nation's Coastal Zone (NOAA National Status & Trends, Mussell Watch Report) (NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 74) (2008)
  
  "Information found in this report covers the years 1986 through 2005. Mussel Watch began monitoring a suite of trace metals and organic contaminants such as DDT, PCBs and PAHs. Through time additional chemicals were added, and today approximately 140 analytes are monitored. The Mussel Watch Program is the longest running estuarine and coastal pollutant monitoring effort conducted in the United States that is national in scope each year. Hundreds of scientific journal articles and technical reports based on Mussel Watch data have been written; however, this report is the first that presents local, regional and national findings across all years in a Quick Reference format, suitable for use by policy makers, scientists, resource managers and the general public."—Executive Summary.


• Thomas R. Knutson et al., Simulated Reduction in Atlantic Hurricane Frequency under Twenty-First-Century Warming Conditions, Nature Geoscience (letter) (May 18, 2008)
  
  "Increasing sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and measures of Atlantic hurricane activity have been reported to be strongly correlated since at least 1950, raising concerns that future greenhouse-gas-induced warming could lead to pronounced increases in hurricane activity. Models that explicitly simulate hurricanes are needed to study the influence of warming ocean temperatures on Atlantic hurricane activity, complementing empirical approaches. Our regional climate model of the Atlantic basin reproduces the observed rise in hurricane counts between 1980 and 2006, along with much of the interannual variability, when forced with observed sea surface temperatures and atmospheric conditions. Here we assess, in our model system, the changes in large-scale climate that are projected to occur by the end of the twenty-first century by an ensemble of global climate models, and
  find that Atlantic hurricane and tropical storm frequencies are reduced. At the same time, near-storm rainfall rates increase substantially. Our results do not support the notion of large increasing trends in either tropical storm or hurricane frequency driven by increases in atmospheric greenhouse-gas concentrations."—Abstract.


• Law Librarian Blog, WILD Foundation's Handbook on International Wilderness Law and Policy (May 12, 2008)
  
  "A Handbook on International Wilderness Law and Policy, published by The WILD Foundation and Fulcrum Publishing, is the first comprehensive guide to wilderness laws and policies around the world. It provides a detailed "how-to" guide for conservation professionals interested in developing new wilderness laws or policies in their countries; and also provides the most current information to practitioners in countries where wilderness laws and policies are already in place, but who are interested in learning from approaches and experiences in other countries. Included in the book are case studies from 12 countries and one indigenous group as well as a matrix comparing different wilderness definitions around the world."—Book description.


• Michael F. Martin, Analyst in Asian Trade and Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division & Rhoda Margesson, Specialist in International Humanitarian Policy, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service (CRS), Cyclone Nargis and Burma’s Constitutional Referendum (CRS Report for Congress Order Code RL34481) (May 9, 2008)
  
  "Even before Cyclone Nargis struck, the junta was already facing a highly controversial referendum on a proposed constitution scheduled for May 10, 2008 that could shape U.S. and other countries’ policies toward Burma. As a consequence, the evolution and implications of the humanitarian crisis are inextricably linked to Burma’s political situation and its relations with the international community. In a widely criticized move, although the military junta decided to postpone the vote for two weeks in some of the more damaged areas of Burma, it indicates it still intends to hold the constitutional referendum in most of Burma on May 10, 2008. Critics have called for the cancellation or postponement of the vote for all of Burma."—Summary.


• James E. McCarthy, Specialist in Environmental Policy, Resources, Science, and Industry Division, Congressional Research Service (CRS), Revising the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Lead (CRS Report for Congress Order Code RL34479) (May 7, 2008)
  
  "The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under a court order to review the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for lead, proposed to revise the standard on May 1, 2008, reducing it from 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter
  (μg/m3) to within the range of 0.10 to 0.30 μg/m3. The proposal’s publication in the Federal Register will begin a 60-day public comment period. The agency must promulgate a final standard by September 15, 2008."—Summary.


• National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), Strategic Plan for the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Fiscal Years 2008-2012 (Draft for Public Review and Comment) (April 2008)
  

  "This Strategic Plan for the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) for Fiscal Years 2008-2012 is submitted to Congress by the Interagency Coordinating Committee (ICC) of NEHRP, as required by the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-124, 42 U.S.C. 7701 et. seq.), as amended by Public Law 108-360.

  The Plan outlines a cooperative program of earthquake monitoring, research, implementation, education, and outreach activities performed by the NEHRP agencies. These agencies are:

  • the Federal Emergency Management Agency;
  • the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the NEHRP lead agency;
  • the National Science Foundation; and,
  • the U.S. Geological Survey."
  —Executive Summary.


• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NOAA Predicts Near Normal or Above Normal Atlantic Hurricane Season: As With Any Season, Preparation is Essential (May 22, 2008)
  
  "NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center today announced that projected climate conditions point to a near normal or above normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin this year. The prediction was issued at a news conference called to urge residents in vulnerable areas to be fully prepared for the onset of hurricane season, which begins June 1."—Press release.


• Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, White House Task Force on Waste Prevention and Recycling, Leading by Example: A Report to the President on Federal Environmental and Energy Management (2004-2006) (October 2007)
  
  "This 2007 report highlights accomplishments in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy, waste reduction and recycling, high performance buildings, environmentally smart procurement, electronics stewardship, and fleet management. The report also highlights advancement in the area of environmental management system implementation, and how that framework is being used to maximize efforts in the practice areas."—Preface.


• Peter R. Orszag, Director, Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Containing the Cost of a Cap-and-Trade Program for Carbon Dioxide Emissions (Testimony before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate) (May 20, 2008)
  
  "The cost of meeting an emission target with a cap-and-trade program could be reduced, potentially quite substantially, by providing firms flexibility in the timing of their efforts to reduce emissions. In particular, the most cost-effective cap-and-trade design would encourage firms to make greater reductions when the cost of doing so was low and would allow them leeway to lessen their efforts when the cost was high. Providing firms with such flexibility could also prevent large fluctuations in the price of allowances that could be disruptive to the economy. The reduction in economic burden need not come at the cost of additional environmental risk: The flexibility to shift emission reductions across years could be designed to achieve any given cumulative reduction in emissions over the medium or long term."


• Andrea Rossi & Yianna Lambrou, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO), Gender and Equity Issues in Liquid Biofuels Production: Minimizing the Risks to Maximize the Opportunities (2008)
  
  "The production of liquid biofuels is rapidly increasing in developing countries, due mainly to the establishment of large-scale biofuel feedstock plantations1. This results in potential socio-economic benefits, particularly in terms of agricultural employment, as well as risks, which tend to be context-specific. This paper explores the potential gender-differentiated risks associated with the large-scale production of first-generation liquid biofuels in developing countries. The objective of this study is to engage in an in-depth discussion of some hypothetical risks and identify research and policy strategies to address them, in order to maximize the opportunities offered by biofuels production. A subsequent paper will explore the benefits of small-scale biofuels production for energy generation in rural areas."—Why Link Gender, Equity Issues and Liquid Biofuels Production?


• Statistics Canada, Human Activity and the Environment: Climate Change in Canada (April 22, 2008)
  
  "Canada's emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), major contributors to climate change, rose 25% between 1990 and 2005. However, without increases in energy efficiency, the increase in emissions would have been even greater."


• Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), Global Climate Change: National Security Implications, Carolyn Pumphrey ed. (May 2008)
  
  "On March 29-31, 2007, the Strategic Studies Institute and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies conducted a colloquium on 'Global Climate Change: National Security Implications' held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This volume is based on the proceedings of this conference. Chapter 1 addresses the growing historical awareness of the threat and outlines the science of climate-change. Chapters 2 and 3 focus on how climate change might affect human societies and the degree to which it might cause or exacerbate violence and conflict. Particular attention is paid to the implications for the security of the United States. Chapters 4 and 5 consider a variety of potential solutions, ranging from international diplomacy to the development of efficient technologies. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on the role of the U.S. Armed Forces."


• United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Human Cloning: Ethical Issues (2d ed., updated) (2005)
  
  "While each nation must determine for its society the proper limits to set on cloning, much can be gained from discussion and reflection at the international level. Understandably, it has been decision-makers, scientists and bioethicists who have assumed a leading role in the discussions relating to cloning and the profound ethical questions that it poses for humanity. However, other bodies of opinion, including the public at large, also have a major stake in a wider ethical debate and they often wish to know more."—Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, Preface.


• United States Department of Energy (DOE), 20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy’s Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply (DOE/GO-102008-2567) (Prepublication version, May 2008)
  
  "The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) today released a first-of-its kind report that examines the technical feasibility of harnessing wind power to provide up to 20 percent of the nation’s total electricity needs by 2030. Entitled 20 Percent Wind Energy by 2030, the report identifies requirements to achieve this goal including reducing the cost of wind technologies, citing new transmission infrastructure, and enhancing domestic manufacturing capability. Most notably, the report identifies opportunities for 7.6 cumulative gigatons of CO2 to be avoided by 2030, saving 825 million metric tons in 2030 and every year thereafter if wind energy achieves 20 percent of the nation’s electricity mix. As part of President Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative announced in 2006, clean, secure and sustainable wind energy has the potential to play an increasingly important role in the Bush Administration’s long-term energy strategy to make investments today to fundamentally change the way we power U.S. homes and businesses and to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions growth by 2025."—Press release (May 12, 2008)


• United States Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Information Administration (EIA), Energy Market and Economic Impacts of S.2191, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2007, et al. (April 2008)
  
  "This report responds to a request from Senators Lieberman and Warner for an analysis of S. 2191, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2007. S. 2191 is a complex bill regulating emissions of greenhouse gases through market-based mechanisms, energy efficiency programs, and economic incentives. This analysis focuses on the impacts of the greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program established under Title I of S. 2191." The beSpacific post linked here includes other relevant EIA resources in addition to the S.2191 report.


• United States Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Energy Sources 2007 Flash Estimate (May 2008)
  
  "The flash estimate is based on data published in the Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Energy Review (April 2008). These estimates are considered to be preliminary. More detailed estimates of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from all sources, energy and non-energy, will appear in the report Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States, 2007, which is scheduled to be released in November 2008."


• United States Department of Transportation (DOT), Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Transport Canada (TC) & the Secretariat of Transport and Communications of Mexico (SCT), 2008 Emergency Response Guidebook: A Guidebook for First Responders During the Initial Phase of a Dangerous Goods/Hazardous Materials Transportation Incident (2008)
  
  "The Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG2008) was developed . . . for use by firefighters, police, and other emergency services personnel who may be the first to arrive at the scene of a transportation incident involving a hazardous material. It is primarily a guide to aid first responders in (1) quickly identifying the specific or generic classification of the material(s) involved in the incident, and (2) protecting themselves and the general public during this initial response phase of the incident. The ERG is updated every three to four years to accommodate new products and technology. The next version is scheduled for 2012."


• United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EPA's Report on the Environment 2008 (EPA/600/R-07/045F) (May 2008)
  

  "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the 2008 EPA Report on the Environment today, a document that provides the American people with information on trends in the condition of air, water, and land and related changes in human health in the United States.

  "In addition to national scale indicators, the ROE also provides data broken out by EPA Regions. This includes nearly 30 indicators for EPA Region 8, which includes the states of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Indicators presented include air pollutant emissions and concentrations, acid deposition, drinking water quality, land use patterns, population, fertilizer use, cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, forestland, fish populations, carbon storage, temperature and precipitation, and more."—Press release (May 20, 2008)
  

• United States House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Getting the Most Greenhouse Gas Reductions for Our Money (White Paper) (May 2008)
  
  "One of the Committee's goals in designing a comprehensive climate change program is to achieve the necessary greenhouse gas reductions for the least cost and with the least economic disruption. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be an expensive proposition, but scientists tell us that not reducing emissions will leave future generations with serious problems that will cost even more to address. This White Paper discusses ways to keep costs as low as feasible while still achieving our environmental goals.

  The most important way to keep costs down is to establish a system that will achieve lowest-cost reductions. The climate change debate often focuses on the need for expensive measures. If the program is structured properly, however, significant reductions can be achieved by economically beneficial measures (i.e., measures with savings that exceed costs). In large part, these measures are improvements in energy efficiency and productivity."—Executive Summary.
  

• United States House of Representatives, Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology, Implications of Cyber Vulnerabilities on the Resiliency and Security of the Electric Grid (May 21, 2008)
  
  "The Congress made FERC responsible for overseeing the reliability of the bulk power system, but it provided specific restrictions on the procedures to be used to develop and put into effect mandatory reliability standards. [Section 215 of the Federal Power Act] is an adequate basis to protect the bulk power system against most reliability threats, and for that reason I do not believe there is a need to amend section 215. However, I believe a different statutory mechanism is needed to protect the grid against cyber security threats, given the nature of these threats."—Testimony of the Honorable Joseph T. Kelliher, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
  


• World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Arctic Climate Impact Science: An Update Since ACIA (April 2008)
  
  "This report presents a wide-ranging review of arctic climate impact science published since the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) in 2005. It spans the width of subject areas, covering impacts on physical and biological systems, as well as on humanity. The report presents the scientific evidence for arctic climate change impacts in review sections, each of which targets a particular arctic system or cross-cutting arctic theme. A separate bullet-point section highlights what expert reviewers, authors, and editors rank as the most important findings."—Executive Summary.
  


• Brent D. Yacobucci, Specialist in Energy and Environmental Policy, Resources, Science, and Industry Division, Congresssional Research Service (CRS), Biofuels Incentives: A Summary of Federal Programs (CRS Report for Congress Order Code RL33572) (Updated March 18, 2008)
  
  "Ethanol and biodiesel, the two most widely used biofuels, receive significant government support under [recent legislation] in the form of mandated fuel use, tax incentives, loan and grant programs, and certain regulatory requirements. The 18 programs and provisions listed in this report have been established over the past 27 years, and are administered by five separate agencies and departments: Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Internal Revenue Service, and Customs and Border Protection. These programs target a variety of beneficiaries, including farmers and rural small businesses, biofuel producers, petroleum suppliers, and fuel marketers. Arguably, the most significant federal programs for biofuels have been tax credits for the production or sale of ethanol and biodiesel. However, with the establishment of the renewable fuels standard (RFS) under P.L. 109-58, Congress has mandated biofuels use; P.L. 110-140 significantly expanded that mandate. In the long term, the mandate may prove even more significant than tax incentives in promoting the use of these fuels."—Summary.