A spokesman for Representative Brian Bilbray, a Republican, whose district includes San Diego, tells Recharge that the bill will be bipartisan and have co-sponsors from several other Western states.

The bill, HR 3460, will be debated in the House Energy and Commerce committee, whose chairman is Representative Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California whose party controls both houses of Congress.

The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) mandates that 36 billion gallons of biofuels a year must be blended into traditional fuels by 2022, with 21 billion gallons coming from cellulosic feedstock.

By comparison, the 11.1 billion gallon mandate for this year requires 1.2 billion gallons of advanced biofuels and biomass-based diesel, but no cellulosic biofuel.

At the behest of Congress, the US Environmental Protection Agency is analyzing the environmental impact of ethanol, biodiesel and other biofuels as part of implementation of the RFS.

EISA sets new renewable fuel categories and eligibility requirements. It establishes the first US mandatory life-cycle greenhouse gas thresholds for renewable fuel categories, as compared to average petroleum fuels in 2005.

EPA set a 20% reduction in life-cycle emissions for any renewable produced at new facilities whose construction began after EISA was passed.

To determine this, EPA is conducting a life-cycle analysis on whether or not renewable fuels produced under varying conditions will meet emissions thresholds for the different fuel types for which EISA sets mandates.

Algae producers and researchers are hoping that EPA will include it as a feedstock acceptable for meeting RFS mandates. There are no commercial-scale production facilities in the US but companies including ExxonMobil are pouring billions of dollars into algae fuel development.

“This bill reinforces the enormous potential of algal biomass to provide sustainable, renewable energy,” Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the Algal Biomass Organization, a trade group, tells Recharge.

“It also validates algae-based fuels as `renewable’ and brings our industry closer to policy and tax parity with other second generation feedstocks,” she says.

Rosenthal also notes the legislation would also extend the cellulosic fiofuel producer tax credit to algae-based biofuel..

Bilbray’s spokesman declined to estimate chances that the bill could pass out of committee and be approved by the House.

Republicans have 179 members in the 435 seat House but the bill is expected to win support from many in the California congressional delegation, the largest of any state.

The spokesman notes that Bilbray’s 50th congressional district is “full” of start-up companies, research labs and venture capital firms looking to develop and commercialise algae fuel. That, in turn, could mean plenty of potential jobs for the state.