"A full-service public affairs firm specializing in representing agriculture, agricultural transportation, renewable fuels, agriterrorism, and food security companies and organizations worldwide"
|
Washington
Office | Baltimore Office |
| 7832 Whiterim Terrace | 12515 Falls Road |
| Potomac, Maryland 20854 | Cockeysville, MD 21030 |
| 301.765.0273 | 410.560.3224 |
Trucking, Agriculture and Renewable Fuels
By: Fletcher R. Hall
The United States, with 4.6 percent of the world’s population, produces 17.5 per cent of the world’s oil and consumes 23.6 percent. America cannot continue the twin paths of domestic undersupply and over consumption. The United States imported 12.9 million barrels in 2004, or at least 63 per cent of total consumption. That is up from 35 percent in 1973. It should be noted that the trucking industry alone, consumes 60 million gallons of fuel annually, 70 per cent of which is diesel. The U.S. share of imported oil is projected to grow to nearly 70 per cent, with the nation becoming increasingly dependent on Persian Gulf oil supply. U.S. imports from the Persian Gulf area are projected to rise from 2.5 million barrels (22 per cent of total U.S. imports) in 2003 to 4, 2 million barrels (62 per cent of U.S. imports) according to forecasts by the U.S. Department of Energy. The rise and dependency of U.S. oil imports will center significantly on the transportation industry which represents most petroleum use and will constitute over 70 per cent of the increase in demand. Clearly, the trucking industry must have a significant vested interest in the development and distribution of renewable/alternative liquid fuels from domestic sources.
One of the primary sources of creating domestically produced fuels is found on America’s farmlands. America produces and can continue to produce liquid fuels from a variety of farm and forest commodities to run the nation’s vehicles, factories and farms.
Across America a great deal of research is taking place in the development of alternative, renewable fuels, with ethanol and biodiesel actually in production on many areas of the country. It is obvious that a large part of the answer to our future energy needs in the 21st century will be in the development, distribution and use of many alternative renewable fuels. Both Capitol Hill and Wall Street have finally recognized the immediate need and reality of focusing on research, development and distribution of alternative renewable fuels, domestically produced, as the greatest near-term impact on substituting domestic liquid fuels for some imported oil
As with all emerging technologies, issues arise as the renewable (biofuels) industry develops. American researchers in laboratories all across the nation are transforming renewable plant materials into transportation fuels and solving technical problems in these transformations at a rapid rate, with great success. The renewable fuels industry is overcoming obstacles in developing appropriate and cost-effective alternative fuels daily. These developments are stimulating private investment and government support and policies to ensure progress in reducing America’s energy dependency on foreign fuel sources. Quality standards for these new renewable fuels will be a significant factor of consumer acceptance and the development of domestic markets.
Policy options to increase production of alternative liquid fuels, at the lowest cost to consumers and the government are essential, and it is readily discernable that many are not cost effective. In the case of ethanol and biodiesel, we have fixed subsidies that do not vary in any way with market conditions. For other alternative liquid fuels we have used loan guarantees, tax credits, and other mechanisms that may not yet, totally, effectively target the necessary risk and cost reductions.
In 2006, I had the opportunity to attend the Richard G. Lugar – Purdue Summit on Energy Security at Purdue University, and the Advancing Renewable Energy: An American Rural Renaissance Conference, sponsored by both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Energy. As the then Executive Director Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference of the American Trucking Associations, and now one engaged working with renewable fuels companies, biofuels industry and agriculture, it is very clear to me that America has a political problem. This nation has or can develop the natural and financial resources, industrial capacity and technological capacity to move this country away from foreign oil dependence. We have to develop the coordination and political will and make choices as a nation to shift away from oil imported dependence which has given oil a near monopoly on American transportation, especially trucking. The United States has the capacity and resources to produce both food and fuel from agricultural commodities, absorb reasonable cost increases in consumer products now that the nation must adopt and activate the political will to ensure the reduction in dependency in continued reliance on foreign imported oil.
There are several current, specific federal legislative policy initiatives which merit support by to reduce American dependence on foreign oil. During the Lugar – Purdue University Summit on Energy Security Senator Lugar advanced a recommended national policy that, if enacted and implemented, would achieve the replacement of 6.5 million barrels per day by volume, the approximate equivalent of one third of the oil used in the United States and one half of our oil imports. He advocated:
1. Making virtually every new car sold in America a flexible fuel vehicle
2. Expand ethanol production to 100 billion gallons a year by 2025. This could be achieved by doubling output every five years
3. Create an approximate $45 price floor on crude oil through a variable ethanol tax credit, which would rise as the price of oil drops, to ensure that investment continues into alternative renewable fuels
4. Enact stricter vehicle mileage standards to encourage automobile innovation toward conservation
5. Make E85 more widely available
Senator Lugar is pursuing legislation to implement this plan, and Congress and the American people should support this critical legislation.
Trucking, transportation and agriculture are critical and significant stakeholders in the development and delivery of renewable fuels in the United States in the 21st century.
It is critical that the commercial agricultural trucking industry support the development and use of reliable renewable fuels from agriculture and forestry products to help increase our nation’s energy supplies and reduce the import of millions of barrels of foreign oil each day. It is imperative that America, in the future can increase production of homegrown renewable fuels from the mid-west, and other parts is this nation, rather than imports from the mid-east.
The commercial agricultural trucking industry, and indeed the entire transportation industry, as well as American agriculture must be intensively involved in making sure that in the future; the United States can truly reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil and produce home grown, renewable, efficient, quality, alternative fuels that will indeed keep America moving, and revitalize the rural areas of this nation.
Effective...Personal...Professional