Today in Biofuels Opinion: Gov. Hoeven of North Dakota, Sen. Lugar of Indiana

Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana: “As Hoosiers, we can appreciate the devastating impact of the current global food crisis. Our farmers know that the current situation was produced by a complex web of factors…Yet critics have singled out…ethanol, as the primary culprit in the food crisis. They have demanded Congress scale back, or even halt, corn ethanol production. This is a false choice. America launched the biofuels program because of the economic, foreign policy, and environmental dangers from foreign supplies, which meet 60 percent of our transportation needs and cost Americans $319 billion last year.Corn is the foundation we need to hasten the commercialization of cellulosic technology, which promises abundant, cheap ethanol from non-food sources like switchgrass or forest wastes. We need energy security. We need food security. We can have both.

Gov. John Hoeven of North Dakota:  “The Ethanol mandate is good for the nation. Currently, the United States imports nearly 60 percent of its fuel. This creates a challenge not only of cost, but also of dependency on unstable foreign sources of petroleum. The long-term solution to high fuel prices at the pump and reduced dependency on foreign supplies is not to reduce consumption of biofuels, but to increase supply from all sources, including ethanol. Biofuels boost America’s rural economies and help to contribute to the nation’s supply of transportation fuels. They create jobs and stimulate economic activity in rural America, while reducing our dependency on oil produced in unstable parts of the world. Research is under way, moreover, to help the industry produce fuel from increasingly less expensive materials so that someday we will be manufacturing ethanol from switch grass and other more economical sources. Turning back the clock on renewable fuels makes no sense. We must continue to enhance production, support research and promote the use of ethanol and other biofuels. Our nation’s economy and security depend on it.

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