19/05/2012 (Biofuels Digest) - In Washington, the Obama Administration will tussle shortly over the future of palm oil-based biofuels in the US.  At issue: whether both direct and indirect land use change that is the result of palm’s expansion in Indonesia, should be enough to ban the otherwise climate-friendly feedstock from the US.

Palm producers are on notice to demonstrate a 20 percent reduction in fossil fuel emissions to qualify under the US renewable fuel standard—and sites like Care2.com are howling that the EPA is using 2003-era data to make its determination, contending that the recent performance of the palm industry in Indonesia is even worse.