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Large-scale copper (Cu) mining activities in Michigan's Upper Peninsula produced millions of metric tons of mining wastes also known as stamp sands. The stamp sands containing high concentrations of Cu were disposed of into several lakes connected to the Lake Superior. Eventually, as aquatic organisms in these lakes started to exhibit toxicity symptoms, the stamp sands were dredged and discarded on the lake shores. Consequently, these areas turned into degraded, marginal lands and were collectively classified as a Torch Lake Superfund site by the US EPA. Due to the lack of vegetative cover, the Cu-rich stamp sands eroded into the lakes, affecting the aquatic life. To alleviate this issue, a sustainable restoration plan (SRP) was developed and tested in a greenhouse environment prior to field implementation. Cold-tolerant oilseed crops, camelina (Camelina sativa) and field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense), were grown on compost-fertilized stamp sands, which reduced soil erosion by acting as a vegetative cap. Oilseed plants produced normal yield, demonstrating their potential utilization as biofuel feedstock. Prior to implementing the SRP in field-scale in the Torch Lake Superfund site, a public opinion survey of the local community was conducted to understand the views of residents. Door-to-door survey was performed in July-August 2015, which yielded a response rate of 68.1%. Results showed that residents were generally concerned with stamp sand erosion into the Torch Lake and were overwhelmingly supportive of the SRP, which would not only provide environmental benefits but could boost the local economy via biofuel production. To gauge the general environmental awareness of the respondents, the survey included questions on climate change. Most of the respondents acknowledged that climate change is real and anthropogenically mediated. Having college education and a relatively high annual household income showed a positive and significant correlation with climate change awareness.

The problem that climate change poses globally is being addressed locally through the use of diverse policy responses in many countries. Following its five-decade history of environmental policy making in the USA, the country has employed a particular mix of different renewable energy policy instruments, or tools, in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and replace fossil fuels with renewably sourced energy. We analyze and compare renewable energy policies and policy instruments from 2000 to 2016 for Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico with the USA, to determine what makes the USA unique in its robust approach to climate policy and reflect on the time periods when policy making has been the most active. We found that the most often used regulatory instruments in the USA to achieve its climate policy goals have been Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements implemented at the state level, with federal climate mitigation policy being contested.

This editorial will introduce a set of seven articles appearing in this Special Issue on Pan American biofuel and bioenergy sustainability. We will discuss the importance of sustainability in biofuel and bioenergy development and rationale for a focus on the Pan American region. These articles are one outcome of a US National Science Foundation-funded project, and we will list the project goal, objectives, and activities. We will also provide short overviews of the articles. The implications of large-scale biofuels and bioenergy production on environmental systems and social conditions are largely unknown. Yet despite this lack of fundamental sustainability knowledge, there is sustained interest in development of biofuels and bioenergy production systems that will concomitantly lead to changes in extant human and natural systems. These changes may be beneficial or detrimental, and may involve: land ownership and management, creation of new employment opportunities, occupational safety, unforeseen transportation and logistical challenges, impacts on water availability and quality, potential competition with food production, among others. The Pan American region is of interest to study for biofuel and bioenergy sustainability because of its dominance in global biofuel production, its large biofuel production capacity because of abundant land area and favorable soils and climate, its possession of a significant fraction of the world’s biodiversity, large agricultural sectors, and rich policy experience. The articles in this Special Issue are organized into two main categories: natural and social sciences; and systems analyses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is implementing a program of SO2 emission allowance trading as part of the Acid Rain Program authorized by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Electric utilities may use allowance trading as part of their compliance strategy to meet SO2 emission reduction requirements, which begin in 1995. In the interest of a free market in emission credits, some utilities began trading in 1992. A strict but essential requirement for continuous-emissions monitoring was developed to support the trading program. This program is being widely watched and will be evaluated as part of an effort to determine if market concepts can be successfully extended to other environmental issues. One such issue is greenhouse gas emissions and their link with global warming and climate change. This paper focuses on the early lessons learned, issues, and challenges involved in going from a domestic electric utility SO2 emissions trading program to inter-industry, inter-gas and international as well as national emissions trading and offsets programs. Prominent among these issues are CO2 allowance allocations, equity, emissions monitoring, enforcement, and cost-effectiveness.