The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), a national industry trade association with nearly 1500 members nationwide, today praised U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) for introducing the Biofuels Security Act of 2007. Harkin and Lugar have been long-time leaders in the ongoing effort to make America more energy independent through greater production of domestic biofuels. 

Including many of the legislative priorities called for by the American Coalition for Ethanol, the bill places homegrown biofuels at the center of America’s quest for energy security. Introduced today by Senator Harkin and co-sponsored by Senator Lugar, the legislation includes these provisions: 

• Setting new benchmarks for the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), reaching 30 billion gallons per year by 2020 and 60 billion gallons per year by 2030. 
• Requiring all U.S. automobiles to be flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) by 2017, capable of running on gasoline orany blend of ethanol up to 85 percent (E85).
• Requiring the major oil companies to carry E85 at half of their gas stations by 2017.

Following the bill’s introduction, Brian Jennings, ACE Executive Vice President, commented:
“The American Coalition for Ethanol is very grateful to Senators Harkin and Lugar for introducing the Biofuels Security Act of 2007, a bill that contains many of ACE’s highest legislative priorities. Now is the time for boldpolicies to help increase the availability of homegrown and renewable alternatives to oil. The bipartisan leadership of these two long-time ethanol champions is setting the stage for the new Congress to confront America’s energy crisis in a direct, yet sensible way by dramatically increasing the availability of ethanol. We are hopeful that Congress will enact this bill in the near future so that America can continue to benefit from the expansion of the domestic biofuels industry.”