Pushing Biofuels in the U.S.

Pushing Biofuels in the U.S. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

The announcement on Monday by the President that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Navy would invest $510 million dollars to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power military and commercial transportation has a lot of tongues wagging. Over the next 3 years, the U.S. will partner with the private sector to help make this a reality. The initiative responds to a directive from President Obama issued in March as part of his Blueprint for A Secure Energy Future. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said this was important to national security.

MABUS: I think the Navy can bring a couple of things here. Number one, the Defense Production Act, a law that has been on the books since 1950 says that if industries are not existent in the United States but are vital to national security - that the government can help those industries get established and get off the ground.

In his remarks, the President said quote: “Biofuels are an important part of reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil and creating jobs here at home.” Mabus says the military alone can drive big demand.

MABUS: Secondly, the Navy can also be the market. We have a big need for biofuels. I’ve announced that by no later than 2020 the Navy will get at least half of all of it’s energy sources both afloat and ashore from non fossil fuel sources. That means that we will need by 2020 8-million barrels of biofuel a year. And what this MOU does is gets us on the road to getting us there.

Mabus says in the long run developing our own biofuels will provide an big upside for both the military and the rest of the U.S.

MABUS: It will make us better war fighters, it will save lives in our military and it will reduce a vulnerability that our military has today that we simply shouldn’t have.

The partnership aims to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil and create jobs while positioning American companies and farmers to be global leaders in advanced biofuels production.  The United States spends more than $300 billion on imported crude oil per year.  Producing a domestic source of energy provides a more secure alternative to imported oil and improves our energy and national security.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.