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“THE IMPORTANCE OF RENEWABLE FUELS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Senate section on pages S11212 on Oct. 24, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE IMPORTANCE OF RENEWABLE FUELS
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, just this week, we in the U.S. Senate have been confronted with two strong reminders of the importance of renewable fuels to this country. This emerging industry, potentially lucrative for American farmers and agribusiness, can help solve two key problems that we face: the impact of greenhouse gases on the global climate, and the growing dependency of the American economy on the import of foreign petroleum products.
On Wednesday, President Clinton, announced the U.S. position with respect to the climate change treaty to be negotiated in Kyoto in December. Under his instructions, American negotiators will seek to fashion an agreement that will commit, on an equitable basis, the nations of the world to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases over the next several decades. If implemented, our ability to meet such goals will depend greatly on the development and adoption of new technologies which are more energy efficient. The President's proposal to provide tax incentives for more energy efficient technology should be important in spurring such development efforts. Renewable fuel technologies, especially those derived from agricultural products, will be a crucial component of such activities. Many forms, such as the energy that will be produced from the switchgrass project underway in Centerville, IA, offer the added benefit of actually withdrawing carbon from the atmosphere. Expansion of production of renewable fuels also increases income for the farm sector, and creates new jobs. In keeping with a key theme voiced at the recent White House Conference on Climate Change, with renewable fuels we can do well by doing good, for American agriculture and the whole country.
If that were not enough, Mr. President, Tuesday's announcement by the Commerce Department that record oil imports caused our merchandise trade deficit to increase in August gives added urgency to the promotion of renewable fuels. It is clear that even if no treaty on climate change comes out of Kyoto, our dependence on oil imports still looms on the horizon. The share of imports in U.S. oil consumption has been climbing steadily over the last few years, and the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy projects that the share could reach 75 percent within the next 10-15 years. Increased production and use of renewable sources of energy could help to stem that tide, and reduce our need to rely on energy sourced in large part from a politically unstable region of the world.
During this session of Congress, we can begin to respond to these events in at least one concrete way, by passing into law the proposed extension of the ethanol tax credit to the year 2007. I urge my colleagues to seize this opportunity now to show our confidence in agriculture's ability to make a positive contribution in these areas by producing renewable energy for American consumers to use.
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