This week Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced an amendment to the pending energy bill with a bipartisan group of Senators that would provide for expansion of the U.S. biofuels market. The bill would increase the percentage of flex-fuel vehicles manufactured in the U.S.; increase the number of blender pumps at refueling stations for increased access to higher ethanol blends; and authorize loan guarantees for renewable fuel pipelines. In regard to the percentage of vehicles made flex-fuel capable, the amendment requires 50% of vehicles to be so in 2013 and 2014, and 90% in 2015 and beyond. That doesn't include electric vehicles.
Harkin says it's important to continue taking steps to promote the production and use of biofuels as part of the nation's overall strategy to reduce dependence on foreign oil. He says biofuels have already significantly displaced petroleum-based fuels in the transportation fuels markets, and the amendment will take important steps to further those efforts and make biofuels accessible to more Americans. The amendment requires major fuel distributors, people owning a refinery or directly marketing the output of a refinery, to install at least one blender pump at an increasing number of the refueling stations they own or through which they market: 10% by 2013, 20% by 2015 and 50% by 2019 and beyond.
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