A bicameral group of Iowa legislators sent a letter to President Joe Biden Tuesday for ignoring the BioFuel industry after he previously pledged to “promote and advance.”
The letter was signed by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-02), and Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA).
The group points out Biden has broken his promise as the administration’s proposed infrastructure bill, currently, would be spending $174 billion to subsidize electric vehicles but hardly mentioning the biofuel industry.
The group said in their letter, “Biofuels are a proven climate solution that can provide a cost-effective way to lower greenhouse gas emissions while providing good jobs for rural America,” which is why they hope the president will include it in the final legislation process.
The Republicans called out Biden for saying he wants to “Promote and advance renewable energy, ethanol, and other biofuels to help rural America and our nation’s farmers” when he campaigned for president. However, when it came time, Biden has not kept his promise. “You failed to include any investments in biofuels which play a vital role in our nation’s transportation sector,” said the letter.
“According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), by 2050, 81% of new vehicle sales will still be gas-powered or flex-fuel.1 Just this past year, electric cars made up 2.2% of the U.S. auto market,” the group of Republicans wrote. “While it is likely our country will continue to produce more electric vehicles, it is clear that American consumers are not sold on them.”
They called out Biden for letting his plan only subsidize expensive electric vehicles. including “calls for the electrification of the federal vehicle fleet.”
The group continued to write:
The Administration should support flex-fuel vehicles and cost-effective infrastructure improvements that will pave the way to higher biofuel blends. Additionally, the Administration should demonstrate a strong commitment to biofuels through a strong renewable volume obligation for 2021, 2022, and beyond. We should ensure that where needed biofuel pumps and storage tanks can be updated. The Administration should also work towards incentivizing new biofuel technologies and use accurate greenhouse gas modeling that takes into consideration the latest farming and production practices to calculate emissions from biofuels.
The Biden Admin has embraced electric vehicles w/o including biofuels in the conversation – ignoring #Iowa producers & contradicting what Biden himself promised. That's why members of the IA delegation sent a letter to @POTUS urging him to uphold his promise to support #biofuels: pic.twitter.com/cKbatUWAmO
— Rep. Randy Feenstra (@RepFeenstra) May 25, 2021
The group noted again that Biden promised to support BioFuel, but he has failed to do so as president. They strongly expressed that BioFuel would be able to “provide an immediate solution to help decarbonize our transportation sector while supporting rural America and providing a low carbon, cost effective choice to consumers.” In addition to the mentioned, the type of fuel should not be “treated as a transition fuel, but prioritized as a fuel of the future.”
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