06/16/05 Senate adopts RFS

Farm and Ranch June 16, 2005 The U.S. Senate is working on its version of a comprehensive energy bill and yesterday voted to include in it a renewable fuels standard of eight billion gallons a year by 2012. The amendment establishing the RFS at eight billion gallons came on a 70 to 26 vote. Previously the Senate rejected an effort to weaken the standard on a bipartisan 69 to 28 vote. Ethanol gets most the attention regarding a renewable fuels standard but Republican Senator Jim Talent of Missouri pointed out, this is about more than ethanol. Talent: "It is important to make that clear. It is partly ethanol. It will probably be mostly ethanol but it will also be biodiesel which we make from soybeans. It will be biomass. There are provision to develop the technology so that we can sugar into energy. And I would expect that at eight billion gallons all those various kinds of renewable fuels will be present in substantial supply in the nation's fuel supply by the year 2012. " Of course you can make biodiesel out of canola and mustard too. Bob Dinneen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association, applauded the Senate's action saying a robust RFS will make a positive difference for lowering gasoline prices, creating jobs and reducing foreign oil imports. The House passed energy bill contains only a five billion gallon renewable fuels standard so once the Senate passes its bill, that and any other differences will have to be worked out in a conference committee. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.