June 17, 2010
Growth Energy pushes for infrastructure improvements
Published in Brownfield Ag
President Obama is using the Gulf oil spill to renew his push for clean energy investments. Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis was on Capitol Hill this week outlining the ethanol industry’s priorities in that area, which include improvements to the renewable fuels infrastructure.
“We want to see mandatory flex-fuel vehicle production in this country. We want to see blender pumps installed around the country,” Buis says, “and that gives the power to the consumers and you don’t have to worry about whether or not they can utilize it in their vehicles in the future, if they’re all flex-fuel vehicles.”
Growth Energy is also pushing for legislation that would provide federal loan guarantees to build an ethanol pipeline from the Midwest to the Northeast. “That will lower our carbon footprint by moving ethanol by pipeline, as opposed to using fossil fuel-powered vehicles to move it—and also lowers the cost to the consumers,” Buis says.
Buis says extension of the ethanol blender’s tax credit and the secondary tariff on ethanol is also essential. And he eagerly awaits the EPA’s decision on a higher ethanol blend rate.
“We’re up against the blend wall—and everyone knew it. That’s why we filed the waiver a year ago last winter,” says Buis. “We don’t have a problem producing it. We just have these artificial barriers that keep us from producing and contributing more to our nation’s energy needs.”
Speculation is that the ...
