News Releases for June 2002
June 18, 2002
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Hoeven Urges Congressional Energy Bill Conferees To Keep Ethanol Provisions
BISMARCK, N.D. - Governor John Hoeven today urged Senate and House members working out differences in the energy bill to meet as soon as possible and to adopt the ethanol provisions in the Senate version of the legislation. Hoeven is currently the vice chair of the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition (GEC) and will serve as chair in 2003.
“North Dakota’s grain producers and future ethanol producers are counting on five key provisions in the energy bill,” Hoeven said. “Passage would represent a great boost to both value-added agriculture and energy in our state and in the region.”
In a letter released today to all energy bill conferees, Hoeven and five other governors said the ethanol provisions had been developed over the past three years and reflected the wishes of the White House, members of Congress, governors and a broad range of interests. The key ethanol provisions are:
- Eliminate the oxygen requirement in reformulated gasoline used in smoggy cities.
- Ban MTBE, a water-polluting gasoline additive, in four years.
- Create a renewable fuels standard that will triple the amount of ethanol used in motor fuel over the next ten years.
- Allow farmer-owned cooperatives to receive ethanol tax credits.
- Provide tax incentives for the installation of 85 percent ethanol blended fuel pumps at service stations and sales of the fuel.
He was joined by five current and past chairs and vice chairs of the 27-member Coalition in sending the letter. The GEC was formed in 1990 to promote and expand the use of ethanol.
“The long-term impact of the renewable fuel standard is expected to create more than 214,000 new jobs, and use an additional 1.4 billion bushels of grain for ethanol production, which will displace 1.6 billion barrels of oil,” Hoeven said.
Note to media: A complete text of the letter can be found at the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition web site at http://www.ethanol-gec.org/corres.html
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