CFDC APPLAUDS SENATE PASSAGE OF ENERGY BILL

Washington, December 12, 2007:  Adopting a less is more approach, the U.S. Senate passed legislation today that would establish a 36 billion gallon Renewable Fuels Standard while increasing fuel economy requirements for the first time in nearly 30 years.

The Senate retooled the version of the bill sent to them by the House of Representatives last week, primarily by deleting the entire tax title. Senate Republicans objected to the removal of tax breaks to the petroleum industry and the White House had threatened to veto the bill if those provisions were included.  The Senate also deleted a Renewable Electricity Standard from the House version.

"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.

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."

The House of Representatives has indicated they preferred their version with the tax provisions and the electricity requirement but would not pass up the chance to enact fuel economy increases and continue the biofuel program.  They are expected to pass the bill before the Christmas recess.  With the removal of the controversial provisions, U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, Ranking Members of the Senate Energy Committee, said in a floor statement today he "guaranteed" the President would sign the bill.