US Senate Votes 62-37 to Back Military Aviation Biofuels

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, the US Senate voted 62-37 in favor of an amendment offered by Senator Mark Udall of Colorado to repeal section 313 of the annual Defense appropriations bill.
Section 313 language, which was offered by Senator Inhofe and adopted in Committee, prohibits DOD from procuring alternative fuels if they cost more than their conventional counterparts.
The Committee-passed annual Defense Authorization bill would have blocked efforts to develop a commercial supply of cost-competitive advanced biofuels as detailed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy (DOE), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) led a successful effort to strike language in the bill that would have restricted DOD from buying any fuels that cost more than traditional fuels. This language, which was added by Senator Inhofe during mark-up, was a direct assault on the Defense Department’s advanced biofuels policy.
... “Today’s vote was a good test vote for RFS,” commented BIO Executive Vice President Brent Erickson. “Over 60 senators went on record today supporting biofuels policy. A very good bi-partisan outcome and a strong signal to investors.” READ MORE and MORE (Renewable Energy World) and MORE (Biofuels Digest/Algae Biomass Organization)

Excerpt from Biofuels Digest/Algae Biomass Organization: Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said it best in April of this year: “We would never let the countries that we buy fuel from build our ships or our planes, but we give them a say on whether those ships sail or those planes fly because we’re dependent on them for fuel.”
...Eleven Republicans joined in yesterday’s vote, proving the bipartisan support for the military’s efforts to promote a robust domestic biofuels supply chain in the United States. Members of both parties can see that a source of renewable fuel would go a long way in helping the military accomplish its mission by reducing its dependence on foreign oil and the budget spikes with price volatility. It would reduce the enormous cost in lives that must be endured to protect fuel supply lines and shipping lanes. It would also give developers of advanced biofuels the certainty that their products will have a stable early-adopter ready to use their fuels.
...Federal support for nascent energy technologies is not without precedent. In fact, the natural gas revolution that has been unleashed by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technology was originally funded by the US Department of Energy. The military has led other energy revolutions as well; they pioneered the transitions from ships driven by the wind to those steaming with coal, then on to cruising with petroleum and nuclear reactors. READ MORE
Map of vote from Biofuels Digest: READ MORE includes Senate roll call