As a candidate in the 2008 election, Barack Obama outlined an energy agenda to wean the United States off foreign oil while tackle growing concerns about climate change. Part of his plan involved producing more advanced biofuels than ever before.

As we explained in our last post on this promise, advanced biofuels are often made from agricultural leftovers such as corn stalks, wood chips and even algae. They are different from biofuels that come from the starch in corn kernels and are mixed with conventional gasoline or diesel. In general, advanced biofuels result in less greenhouse gas emissions but cost more to produce.

During his campaign, Obama noted that Congress was proposing performance targets -- now in the books -- calling for a dramatic expansion of advanced biofuel production, from 600 million gallons in 2009 to 21 billion by 2022. We created the chart below using Congress' annual goals in billions of gallons per year to show the intended arc of increases over time. The red square shows the 60 billion-gallon promise by Obama. You can see that his goal would mean reaching 30 times the current annual supply within 18 years.

Obviously, we cannot grade the president on achieving this long-term goal -- Obama won't be in the White House in 2030. Whoever is the president might very well meet that standard.

However, on a fact sheet about his energy policies, Obama said he would seek to "establish a requirement to produce at least 60 billion gallons of biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel, by 2030." But he hasn't done so.   

We've noted in other posts about Obama's pledges for cellulosic biofuel and fuel economy standards that the federal government uses performance targets and an array of tax incentives, loan guarantee programs, grants, and even a tariff to benefit the production of advanced biofuels. For the most part, the Obama administration has merely maintained existing programs started under President George W. Bush. One exception is an infusion of $786.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the economic stimulus, for Energy Department programs on advanced biofuels.

It's also worth noting that in 2011 Obama directed the Energy, Agriculture, Defense, and Navy departments to invest $510 million over three years for the construction or retrofit of commercial advanced biofuel production facilities for marine and aviation transportation.

Obama pledged to establish a new requirement for 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels, and he hasn't. But he has acted as steward to an array of advanced biofuel policies established shortly before he took office. We rate this a Compromise.