Obama touts ethanol's use
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Printable FormatU.S. senator tours Pekin plant, urges Congress to act on issue
By MOLLY PARKER
Peoria Journal Star
PEKIN - After a tour of the Aventine Renewable Energy plant Monday, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama called on Congress to pass legislation that has the potential to increase ethanol production and reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil.
"If you turn on the news you can see that our dependence on foreign oil is keeping us tied to one of the most dangerous and unstable regions in the world," said Obama, D-Ill. "We need to develop a comprehensive plan to make American energy independent."
Obama, visiting the area for the first time since being sworn in, said the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee is set to debate ethanol measures as early as Wednesday.
Those conversations, he said, will hopefully lead to a comprehensive package that both Republicans and Democrats will agree to in both chambers.
Ethanol, which is corn-based fuel, is one of the substances
that can be blended into gasoline. Supporters of increasing ethanol use say it makes the fuel burn cleaner and is more environmentally friendly than a competing additive, MTBE, which has been banned in 19 states including Illinois, Obama said. Both substances are additives meant to make fuel burn cleaner.
Similar legislation to increase ethanol production has passed the Senate twice in recent years, but has failed to clear the House either time, Obama said.
Critics of increasing ethanol production say it is costly and a waste of energy, contending that it takes substantially more energy to make the fuel than the ethanol returns as a product. Obama said conversations regarding how to make energy plants more efficient should also be debated on Capitol Hill.
Also, the initiative failed in part in the past because supporters of MTBE producers - particularly House Majority Leader Tom Delay, R-Texas - inserted a provision that said the companies that produce MTBE would no longer be held liable for groundwater contamination, Obama said.
"Our hope this year is that because of the strong support we're getting that we can get an agreement without the MTBE liability issue," he said.
The legislation aims to give stability to the market by setting benchmarks for production so that more companies will invest in ethanol production, Obama said, as well as create distribution facilities where the average consumer can access ethanol-based fuel for specially designed cars.
The energy plant Obama toured is the second-largest producer and marketer of ethanol in the United States and supplies more than 500 million gallons of the nation's ethanol yearly, according to the company's Web site.
"After taking a good look at some of the work that's being done here, it's pretty clear that the front line in the battle from energy independence in America is not in Washington, D.C., but it's right here in Pekin and other towns in Illinois," Obama said.
Jerry Weiland, director of the Pekin plant, said after Obama's visit to the company that passing legislation to increase ethanol production should be a "no brainer."
"We're ready to grow and continue to grow the industry and take America away from foreign dependency on oil," he said.