05/15/07 Pushing Alternative Fuels

Pushing Alternative Fuels. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. President Bush has stepped up to the line and seems to be taking the current energy issue by the tail. Yesterday he announced new guidelines towards making his 20 In 10 proposition a reality. BUSH: To help achieve all these priorities, I set an ambitious goal in my State of the Union: to cut America's gasoline usage by 20 percent over the next 10 years. I call this goal 20-in-10, and I have said -- sent to Congress a proposal that would meet it in two steps: First, this proposal will set a mandatory fuel standard that requires 35 billion gallons of renewable and other alternative fuels by 2017. That's nearly five times the current target. The President is also looking at increasing fuel economy again. BUSH: Second, the proposal would continue our efforts to increase fuel efficiency. My administration has twice increased fuel economy standards for light trucks. Together, these reforms would save billions of gallons of fuel and reduce net greenhouse gas emissions without compromising jobs or safety. And Bush is aware that we all feel the pinch of high fuel prices. BUSH: Our dependence on oil creates a risk for our economy, because a supply disruption anywhere in the world could drive up American gas prices to even more painful levels. Our dependence on oil creates a threat to America's national security, because it leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists who could attack oil infrastructure. There are those that feel this is a stall tactic by the Bush Administration by calling for these standards at the end of 2008 but EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson says that just isn't the case. JOHNSON: Having been at the EPA for 26 years now, I can tell you that a rule making process, typically rule making process at the agency takes between 18 & 24 months and so you can do the calculation but this is expediting the rule making. This is very important that we expedite but it's also very important that we have a close collaboration among particularly Department of Transportation, Energy, Agriculture and ourselves  and do it right. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.