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June 12, 2006
More movement on Capital hill for biofuels
the 25/25 idea has taken bill form.
RESOLUTION CALLING FOR 25% RENEWABLES BY 2025 INTRODUCED
With an eye towards further decreasing the U.S. dependence on foreign oil, a handful of mostly Midwest senators and representatives introduced a non-binding, bipartisan resolution calling for 25% of the nations energy to be produced from renewables by 2025.
The concurrent resolution, H ConRes 424 and S ConRes 97, introduced by Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Agriculture Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), stems from ideas previously announced by the Energy Future Coalition, a broad, high-level group of representatives, including former CIA Director James Woolsey, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta and British media mogul Richard Branson.
America for too long has endured tight energy supplies. And, unfortunately Abracadabra wont solve our problems, said Grassley. Thats why the 25 by 25 initiative is so important. Its going to take bold ideas and workable solutions, he said.
Our effort with this concurrent resolution is to signal to Americas farmers, ranchers and forestry industry, that we believe they have the ability and resources to generate 25 percent of our energy needs and that it is in our economic and national security interest to do so, Grassley added.
The resolution does not say how the U.S. would reach the 25 by 25 goal, but supporters of this goal commit to support sensible policies and proper incentives to work toward the goal, Grassley said. This is something we all can support. Its in our economic and national security interest to do so, he added.
However, its unclear as to why the non-binding resolution was introduced, and not a bill, which would have some enforcement behind it.
Several bills have already been introduced in Congress pushing for a higher biofuels requirement than what was passed into law as part of the 2005 energy bill. However, those efforts have received some opposition from oil refiner groups, who feel the biofuels industry doesnt need another mandate.
The topic of biofuels was also discussed yesterday during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on oil dependence and its economic risk. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan testified that while corn-based ethanol can play only a limited role, because its ability to displace gasoline is modest at best, cellulosic ethanol, if it becomes cost competitive, would help wean us of our petroleum dependence.
-Rachel Gantz, rgantz@opisnet.com
Posted by Martin at June 12, 2006 10:04 PM
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