The American Soybean Association (ASA) praised Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) for their introduction today of the “Renewable Fuels for Energy Security Act of 2001” bill. The legislation sets a federal goal for increased national use of renewable fuels, such as biodiesel and ethanol. Under the measure, renewable fuels would account for 3 percent of highway transportation fuels by 2011 and 5 percent by 2016. The measure will allow flexible approaches to comply with program goals, in ways that best fit within the operations of fuel providers.

“This legislation is needed to help renewable fuels become part of the solution as America seeks ways to reduce years of U.S. dependence on petroleum products. This bill is an important step to foster domestic energy production,” said ASA First Vice President Bart Ruth, a producer from Rising City, Neb. “U.S. consumers will benefit from the shift toward cleaner-burning and better performing fuels while U.S. farmers can use a much-needed boost to soybean prices.”

Senator Hagel said, “By establishing a renewable fuel standard, we can improve our air quality, strengthen our national security, reduce our trade deficit, decrease dependency on foreign oil, and create an expanded market for America's farmers.”

Senator Johnson said, “I believe renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel should be the centerpiece of our future energy strategy, because these fuels are home grown solutions that benefit our farmers, provide cleaner air, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. This legislation establishes an aggressive, but realistic, growth pattern for ethanol and biodiesel production and use in the United States.”

Commonly produced from soybean and other vegetable oils, biodiesel contains no petroleum. It can be blended easily with diesel. Biodiesel is popular in Europe where motorists use 250 million gallons annually. According to the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), U.S. biodiesel producers are expected to manufacture 20 million gallons in fiscal year 2001, a four-fold increase from last year.

“Biodiesel’s growing popularity reflects the increasing interest in it as a cleaner-burning fuel for school buses, national parks, government fleets and for other fuel users across the nation that are addressing air quality issues,” said NBB Executive Director Joe Jobe. “A national commitment toward the utilization of renewable fuels will provide a meaningful boost to the biodiesel industry and our national energy policy.”

The fuel offers many environmental and operational benefits. It has the highest energy content of any alternative fuel, which is especially important in heavy-duty diesel applications. Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have passed the rigorous Health Effects testing requirements of the Clean Air Act; is non-toxic, biodegradable and free of sulfur. Independent studies also show that the use of biodiesel in conventional diesel engines results in a substantial reduction of pollutants, including carbon dioxide. Moreover, it increases the lubricity of diesel, which is especially valuable when the sulfur content of diesel is reduced. Additional information on the attributes of biodiesel is available at http://www.biodiesel.org/ .

Every 100 million gallons of biodiesel requires 760 million pounds of a feedstock, such as vegetable oils, recycled grease or animal fats. If soybean oil were the only feedstock used, 100 million gallons of biodiesel would reduce by one-third the current surplus of 2.1 billion pounds of soy oil. Reducing soy oil supplies by this amount would increase the U.S. soy oil price by an estimated 1.5 cents per pound. With 11 pounds of soy oil in a bushel of soybeans, this would raise U.S. soybean prices by as much as 16.5 cents per bushel.