Re: "Gasoline, heating oil go green," Dec. 20.

Most biofuels do not reduce greenhouse gases. The claim that requiring five per cent biofuel in B.C. will reduce the level of greenhouse gas emitted by two to four per cent per litre of fuel fails to account for all carbon dioxide production these fuels represent.

Producing fuels from soybeans (the one source cited in the article) is resulting in further clearing of carbon sinks such as the Amazon rain forest to increase the acreage of soybean production.

If the conversion of such ancient carbon sinks to atmospheric carbon dioxide is accounted for, most biofuels are as bad or worse than conventional fuels.

Perhaps the government might phase in a requirement that biofuels come from sources that do not compete with existing agricultural products or encourage further forest clearing. How about ethanol from pine beetle-killed forests in the Interior?

Bruce Pendergast

Victoria