As the Congress debates the Administration's energy policy report, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers support an expanded role for domestic, renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel in the nation's energy policy. Legislation to create renewable fuel requirements has been introduced in both the House and Senate.

In a letter to Vice President Cheney, who heads up the Administration's Energy Task Force, 18 Senators urged the Administration to thoroughly explore a greater role for renewable fuels. "Ethanol's high octane and clean air benefits make it a logical choice for refiners in addressing the production constraints caused by numerous environmental challenges, including low-sulfur gasoline, the phase-out of MTBE and toxic performance standards," they wrote.

The increased production and use of ethanol and biodiesel will "decrease the need for imported petroleum products, reduce the stress on our refineries and reduce consumer gasoline costs," while improving air quality and rural economic development. Importantly, "because ethanol and biodiesel are produced from renewable resources, they are the most efficient means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from motor fuels in the near term," they said.

"Ethanol and biodiesel could meet three percent of the nation's motor fuel market within ten years," they said. "A three percent market share for ethanol and biodiesel would displace about 9 billion gallons of gasoline annually or between 500,000 and 600,000 barrels of crude oil each day." The following Senators signed the letter:

• Wayne Allard of Colorado
  
• Kit Bond of Missouri
  
• Sam Brownback of Kansas
  
• Conrad Burns of Montana
  
• Kent Conrad of North Dakota
  
• Mark Dayton of Minnesota
  
• Mike DeWine of Ohio
  
• Dick Durbin of Illinois
  
• Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois
  
• Chuck Grassley of Iowa
  
• Chuck Hagel of Nebraska
  
• Tom Harkin of Iowa
  
• Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas
  
• Tim Johnson of South Dakota
  
• Dick Lugar of Indiana
  
• Debbie Stabenow of Michigan
  
• George Voinovich of Ohio
  
• Paul Wellstone of Minnesota