Bi-Partisan Support for Biofuels Can Help to Achieve Energy, National Security Objectives

by Steve Maddox (The Hill) ...Although conventional, corn-based ethanol is not the darling of the environmental movement, it does have certain national security benefits that cannot be overlooked. And the next generation of biofuels being developed across the country offer even greater opportunity to increase our energy independence. During this lame duck session - and moving into the 112th - Congress has the opportunity to continue to help America achieve greater energy security and reduce our over-dependence on oil, especially oil from hostile nations, by supporting the continued domestic deployment of biofuels.

Biofuels help us make incremental progress on achieving some of our national security and energy security objectives. Our transportation sector is 96 percent reliant on petroleum-based liquid fuels – gasoline and diesel, mostly. And while wind, solar, and hydropower are all necessary to reduce our fossil-fuel consumption, none are substitutes for oil. The United States - although a significant oil producer ourselves - still imports about two-thirds of the oil consumed domestically - about 546 million gallons every day. READ MORE