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Texas Criticized For Removing Biofuel Incentives
By Mr Ethanol | October 11, 2007
Dallas Morning News:
As Congress embraces alternative fuels, some in Texas are complaining the oil and gas state has gone in the opposite direction.
Texas lawmakers, who authorized hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to subsidize defense contractors, dairy businesses and oil companies, eliminated funding over the summer for a program that encouraged the production of biofuels.
The decision, part of a last-minute budget-balancing act, drew the ire of biodiesel producers, lobbyists and state officials who argue that Texas was being shortsighted about the nation’s energy future.
The U.S. Senate’s pending energy bill would raise the national mandate for biofuel use by tens of billions of gallons, presenting an opportunity for states beyond the Midwest to get into the alternative-fuel gold rush.
But without a state policy to encourage production, some producers said, Texas is missing its chance.
“We can’t dally for a whole lot longer if we expect to have an industry in this state,” said Russel E. Smith, executive director of the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association. “You have to lay the groundwork for producing the fuels in a state and help stimulate the market for them.”
Ethanol production is projected to increase 66 percent in the two years since Congress mandated its blending with gasoline, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. Texas has not produced any fuel ethanol, although two plants in West Texas are nearly operational.
Photo: MICHAEL HOGUE/DMN
Topics: Agriculture, Biofuel, Ethanol, News |
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