WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate rejected an amendment offered by Sen. John McCain to bar federal agencies from encouraging the installation of Flex Fuel pumps that give consumers a choice of ethanol fuel blends and save motorists money.
“Today, the Senate spoke in favor of offering consumers a choice at the pump. This is good news, because as Growth Energy has said over the last year, we need to reform access to the market, and the only way to do that is through Flex Fuel pumps,” said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, the country’s leading voice of ethanol supporters.
“If we are ever going to break the hold that Big Oil has over American consumers, we have to offer a choice at the pump. That’s what Flex Fuel pumps offer. Today we have more than 8 million Flex Fuel vehicles on the road, but only a little more than 2,000 Flex Fuel pumps in the ground,” Buis said.
Last year, Growth Energy proposed its Fueling Freedom plan to divert the VEETC into an incentive to encourage installation of Flex Fuel pumps. Recently, Growth Energy announced its support of the Thune-Klobuchar bill, a bipartisan compromise that would wind down the VEETC entirely in exchange for Flex Fuel pump incentives; that bill would also help reduce the deficit.