Biofuels Personality of the Year, Finalist: George W. Bush

Like him or not, President George W. Bush set out the 2007 US biofuels agenda astutely and forcefully on January 23, 2007 in the State of the Union Address.

“Tonight, I ask Congress to join me in pursuing a great goal. Let us build on the work we’ve done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years. When we do that we will have cut our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East.

“To reach this goal, we must increase the supply of alternative fuels, by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017 — and that is nearly five times the current target. At the same time, we need to reform and modernize fuel economy standards for cars the way we did for light trucks — and conserve up to 8.5 billion more gallons of gasoline by 2017.”

He didn’t quite get that from the 2007 Energy Independence Act signed into law this week, but he came mighty close. Instead of 35 by 2017, we have 36 by 2022. Fuel economy standards were raised in the new CAFE standards. And his veto threat kept a number of items he didn’t like out of the final Bill.

How did a former Texas oilman get so deep into alternative fuels?

For one, he’s been active in alternative energy policy since famously reminding his Texas gubernatorial staff “there’s a lot of wind in Texas”, and his policies ultimately helped put Texas at the forefront of the wind power industry. But his focus, unlike his rival Al Gore, is less on climate change and more on energy security. He is consolidating his legacy as a wartime president who worked as hard as he could to change the politics of the Middle East. His focus on reducing US dependence on foreign oil is strategic rather than humanitarian in character.

At the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali, the US delegation was booed and jeered for adhering to the President’s position that nations should set their own emission reduction targets and time lines. He has walked a lonely road since pulling out of the Kyoto Treaty, and prefers becoming isolated to being corned into what he feels is a bad bargain. He seems to have become accustomed to the role of a Lone Ranger.

Like the Lone Ranger, he always seems to be at the center of the action, from January through the end of the year. Making tough, unpopular decisions is often the lot of a war president and he certainly has relished that role like no other president in living memory. His positions are unlikely to become popular, but his focus on energy independence is likely to be one of his great legacies.

Who will be the Biofuels Personality of the Year for 2007? Chavez? Gore? Ban Ki-Moon? Castro? Bush? Branson? Feature stories will continue through December 31st when the Biofuels Personality of the Year will be announced. Consideration is given to those who have made the most impact on the biofuels industry this year – for good or ill.

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