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Four congressmen call for biodiesel standard
By John Baxter
At the National Biodiesel Board’s 2007 Conference and Expo in San Antonio, a bipartisan group of four congressmen announced their strong agreement with the American Trucking Associations’ call for a national biodiesel standard.
Such a standard “would be well received on Capitol Hill because petroleum marketers are reluctant to handle all these different blends,” said U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo., at a Feb. 5 press conference that immediately followed the convention’s opening session. “We need the trucking industry to use biodiesel over the road, and they won’t do that if we continue to offer them all these different boutique blends all over the country.”
“The nation will be better served if truckers know what to expect,” agreed U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla.
“We have different mandates in different states,” said U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn. “We have a mandate to use biodiesel in Minnesota, and it works, but there’s no mandate in neighboring states. I think we should have a national mandate.”
U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., noted that Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution empowers Congress to regulate commerce “among the several States.” A national biodiesel standard would be a constitutional way of promoting free trade within the United States, he said.
“It would be helpful for the auto industry to have a uniform national standard,” McCotter said. “Such regulations would also help build a national political movement in favor of biofuels.”
Such a political movement should be the focus of the National Biodiesel Board’s efforts in the coming months, board CEO Joe Jobe told the convention’s opening session.
Wearing a cowboy outfit, Jobe cited the 1836 battle at a local landmark, the Alamo, in stressing the importance of taking decisive action to influence government. He noted that Congress soon will begin debate on the next Farm Bill, a key component of federal energy policy given the growing demand for biofuels such as biodiesel and ethanol.
“The next session of Congress and the government policy objectives we achieve or fail to achieve will set the course for this industry for the next quarter-century … both on the federal level and on the state level,” Jobe said.
In 2005, the National Biodiesel Board declared it would be a billion-gallon industry by 2015. But the industry built so much plant capacity in 2006, Jobe said, that the board this past fall approved “a bold new long-term vision: ‘5 x 15,’ or penetration of 5 percent of the diesel market by 2015. That would be a tenfold increase in production levels in 10 years.”
Such a production increase would mean that all diesel now made from Iraq oil, and a fourth of all diesel now made from Persian Gulf oil, could be replaced with home-grown biodiesel, Jobe said.
The Persian Gulf isn’t the only problematic source of U.S. oil imports, Hulshof told attendees. He cited OPEC member Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez is increasingly at odds with the Bush administration.
“There is a relationship between renewable fuels and the next Farm Bill because there’s a connection between the things Chavez is doing to undermine democracy and our ability to become energy independent,” Hulshof said. “Renewable fuels are poised to move ahead.”
Mexican President Felipe Calderon recently has blamed a 100 percent increase in the price of tortillas, his nation’s staple food, on increased corn prices driven by ethanol demand. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that half the U.S. corn crop this year will be turned into ethanol. Asked about fears that making fuel of food crops such as soybeans and corn could cause food shortages, the four congressmen said that on the contrary, anything that promotes agriculture increases production and alleviates shortages.
The four congressmen also entertained attendees as the Second Amendments, the only congressional rock band. Peterson is the lead vocalist, McCotter the lead guitarist, Weldon the bassist and Hulshof the drummer. Missing from the San Antonio lineup was U.S. Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., the band's keyboardist. The Second Amendments perform at venues such as military bases and Willie Nelson's Farm Aid benefits.
The opening session ended with a presentation by actor Larry Hagman, who played Texas oilman J.R. Ewing in the long-running TV series “Dallas.” He expressed his support for renewable energy and bragged about the solar-generated electricity he uses in his home. “Biodiesel is really just liquid sunshine,” Hagman said.
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