CFDC APPLAUDS PASSAGE OF ENERGY BILL

Following overwhelming votes for passage in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, President Bush signed into law on December 19, 2007 legislation that would establish a 36 billion gallon Renewable Fuels Standard while increasing fuel economy requirements for the first time in nearly 30 years.

"This expanded RFS marks the beginning of a new era in our efforts to produce clean, domestic, renewable fuels," said Douglas A. Durante, Executive Director of the Clean Fuels Development Coalition (CFDC).  "It provides a solid foundation for the current industry and the production capacity under construction today. It will also serve to establish market and investment certainty to move us to new horizons in technology and the use of a wide range of feedstocks," said Durante.

The bill sets new requirements for refiners to include renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel as a small portion of their fuel mix in an effort to reduce pollution, provide domestic economic benefits, and decrease reliance on imported oil, according to CFDC officials. The total requirement is essentially the amount of fuel called for by the Bush Administration in the President's State of the Union Address but combined with the fuel economy increases represents a substantially greater reduction in petroleum consumption. It also extends incentives for automakers to produce flexible fuel vehicles, allowing up to 85 percent ethanol blends.

The RFS establishes a requirement for "Advanced Biofuels" which limits the amount of corn that can be used. It is intended to drive technology developments in cellulose conversion as well as to non-corn agricultural products.

"The first phase of the RFS was one of the great success stories in Congressional history. The certainty of having a market was the missing ingredient that allowed investment to pour into this domestic industry. Ethanol production is reducing the cost of gasoline to consumers, lessening our dependence on imported oil, and improving our economy – not the economy of foreign, unfriendly nations," said Durante.  "With this new Energy Bill, we will see an even greater response in terms of development of biofuel projects from California to New York, and everywhere in between. This is a program that has gone beyond America's cornfields and now impacts every state and sector of our economy."

Also see: http://blog.cleanfuelsdc.org/2008/01/happy-new-energ.html