Lugar Likes What He Reads

May 10, 2001

An article in Wednesday's New York Times pleases Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN). The article said the Bush administration will "encourage the widespread use of agricultural, animal and human waste to produce energy as part of an effort to expand environmentally friendly energy supplies along with fossil fuels." The article indicated that the administration will increase biofuels research spending which was established by Lugar a year ago.

Lugar joined a bipartisan group of senators last week in asking the Senate Appropriations Committee to increase funding for renewable energy programs. "Renewable energy investments are critical to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, expand U.S. markets, help agriculture, improve environmental quality and create jobs. These are vital programs to maintain our nation's energy independence," the letter said.

"The increasing price of oil is a foreign policy problem that shocks us every time we go to the gas pump. The U.S. military provides the security to allow the free flow of oil from producing nations and the opportunity for world trade generally," said Lugar. "A short-term fix is not enough. We must develop a long-term strategy to stop foreign oil from future de-stabilization of the American economy. We can change time-worn assumptions about oil markets. By replacing as little as 10 percent of oil imports with domestically produced biofuels and biochemicals produced from plants, America will diversify its energy portfolio and reap enormous economic, strategic and environmental benefits," Lugar said. "Our dependence on foreign oil is a threat to our security."

Lugar's legislation increases research funding to create biofuels from essentially anything that grows or its waste. The chemistry for this process is generally known, but the Lugar research initiative is necessary to bring affordable biomass ethanol to the market. The bill establishes a $49 million per year research effort over the next six years involving national laboratories, universities and industry.