BOONE, Iowa – Today, at the 2010 Farm Progress Show, Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey held a panel discussion to talk about Growth Energy’s Fueling Freedom Plan, the upcoming energy bill and EPA’s pending decision on the E15 waiver.
At the panel, Buis and Northey discussed the critical need for the EPA to approve E15 and open the market for ethanol in order to revitalize our rural economies, clean our skies and support the continued innovation in the ethanol industry.
Approval of the E15 waiver would create 136,000 new green jobs, reduce green house gas emissions equivalent to removing 10.5 million cars off the road and open the market for cellulosic ethanol.
“We don’t have a production problem, we have an access to the market problem,” Buis said. “By moving to E15 and eliminating the artificial barriers to the fuel market we can create a market for all ethanol to reduce our dependence on oil, strengthen our economy and improve our environment.”
“It is vital that Congress and the EPA move forward and approve these needed long-term policy proposals,” Northey said. “It is important that we send a signal to the industry and investors that support structures that will remain in place and allow the industry to continue to advance and adopt new technologies including eventually cellulosic ethanol.”
EPA has announced that they will complete testing on cars 2007 and newer in September and cars 2001 and newer in November.
In order to open the market for ethanol we need to build out the ethanol fueling structure in this country – a proposal outlined in Growth Energy’s Fueling Freedom Plan. The plan, introduced on July 15th, calls for the installation of 200,000 blender pumps and production of as many as 120 million flex fuel vehicles to help open the transportation fuel market and give consumers a choice at the pump.
Growth Energy’s Fueling Freedom plan, once implemented, would create a genuinely free market where consumers can choose between gasoline and renewable, homegrown ethanol.
“No one thought that we could produce this much ethanol, but just like farmers, we have figured out a way to overproduce. Now we need the opportunity to put that ethanol in the market. We have our challenges but we are confident that in an open market, we can succeed,” Buis added.
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About Growth Energy
Growth Energy is a group committed to the promise of agriculture and growing America’s economy through cleaner, greener energy. Growth Energy members recognize America needs a new ethanol approach. Through smart policy reform and a proactive grassroots campaign, Growth Energy promotes reducing greenhouse gas emissions, expanding the use of ethanol in gasoline, decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, and creating American jobs at home. More information can be found at GrowthEnergy.org.