STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - January 04, 2007)
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By Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Biden, and Mr. Obama):
S. 23. A bill to promote renewable fuel and energy security of the United States, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, over the past several years, our national energy security has deteriorated rapidly. Petroleum and natural gas prices have gone up and appear to be staying up. Almost daily, we hear projections of increases in electricity prices around the country. The environmental impacts of energy use, especially from autos and power plants, are still a major health concern. The evidence of climate change is absolutely clear and very ominous, especially in the disappearance of glaciers, the break up of polar ice sheets and the increasing intensity of storms. We know that combustion of fossil fuels is the primary contributor of the anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions that drive this global warming. Despite these negative consequences, our dependence on petroleum is rising steadily, and we are importing over 60 percent of that petroleum from foreign sources, many of whom are politically unstable or unfriendly to the United States. In short, we need to initiate a major transition of our energy sector, to one that is far more efficient, is much less reliant on fossil fuels and imported oil, and is utilizing vastly more domestically produced renewable energy.
We have seen waxing and waning concerns about our national energy economy now for over 30 years. Many of us have believed all along that we should be doing more to promote energy efficiency and to accelerate the development and use of clean, domestic renewable energy, but during most of that time, cheap energy supplies have lulled us into relatively minimal actions. Over the past three years, however, there has been an increasingly acute awareness of the dire nature of our overall energy situation. It is now clear that our energy situation is a serious threat not only to our economy but to our national security. We can no longer postpone action.
Today I am joined by my esteemed colleagues, Senator Lugar of Indiana, Senator Dorgan of North Dakota, Senator Biden of Delaware, and Senator Obama of Illinois, in introducing the Biofuels Security Act of 2007. This bill directly addresses one of the most critical pieces of a sound national energy transition policy. It charts a clear path forward for significantly increasing our national use of renewable fuels over the next 24 years, reaching a total of 30 billion gallons per year by 2020, and 60 billion gallons per year by 2030. That latter figure represents about one-third of our nation's current annual fuel use for highway transportation. The production of the two most common forms of biofuels, ethanol and biodiesel, is expanding rapidly. We have reason to believe that this provision will provide strong impetus to increasing biofuels' production and use because it is an extension of the renewable fuels standard that I promoted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That standard mandates using a total of 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2012, and already we are on a path to exceed that requirement by 2008. Thus, we can be very optimistic about the success of setting these longer term and more aggressive targets.
This bill also will ensure that the vehicles to use these renewable fuels are readily available by requiring auto manufacturers over time to produce and sell increasing numbers of dual-fuel vehicles--that is, vehicles that can be fueled by gasoline or gasoline/ethanol blends. Because the turnover of vehicles on the highway takes many years, our bill requires the fraction of dual-fuel vehicles to increase from 10 percent in 2008 up to 100 percent in 2017 and beyond. In order to assure availability of alternative fuels, our bill requires installation of increasing numbers of E-85 pumps by major oil companies at fueling stations that they own or license under their brand. These pumps will dispense E-85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, which is a very popular renewable fuel because of its high ethanol content. The bill will require 50 percent of such owned and licensed stations to have pumps dispensing E-85 fuel by 2017. In addition, the bill includes a clause to ensure geographic distribution of such E-85 marketing stations.
Today I urge my Senate colleagues to join us in taking action to boost the transition to a cleaner, more resilient, and more secure energy economy. I request support for this bill and its rapid enactment.
I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
S. 23
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