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Congressman Roscoe Bartlett Votes No Against Expanding Ethanol Mandate
Washington, Dec 18 -
Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-6-MD) supports changes in America’s energy policies to increase CAFÉ mileage standards, encourage conservation of finite fossil fuels, incorporate energy efficiency improvements and promote the development of alternative domestic renewable resources. However, he voted NO on the final version of H.R. 6 because of the Senate’s addition of a Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) to expand the existing ethanol mandate. Congressman Bartlett spoke on the House floor concerning the bill. A link to the video and transcript of his statement follows. http://clips.shadowtv.net/media/stv/3343/8/2007/352/12/3343_8_20071218_125641_109.wmv
Congressman Bartlett was an original cosponsor of H.R. 6 when it was introduced in January 2007 and voted to support final passage of the previous comprehensive House energy bill, H.R. 3221. Both excluded expansions in the ethanol mandate. Floor Statement of Congressman Roscoe Bartlett:
“We have about a trillion barrels of recoverable known reserves. The undiscovered reserves are going to be a relatively small fraction of that. If we could pump those undiscovered reserves tomorrow, what would we do the day after tomorrow? And there will be a day after tomorrow. I have 10 kids, 16 grandkids, and two great grandkids. We are leaving them a horrendous debt, although not with my votes. Wouldn't it be nice to leave them a little oil? I'm not anxious to find and exploit these undiscovered reserves. “I really would like to vote for this bill because we desperately need an energy bill. The world and particularly the United States faces a real challenge on energy in the future. But I cannot vote for this bill primarily because of the corn ethanol mandate. A recent article in The Economist* noted that our use of corn for ethanol doubled the price of corn about a year ago. Farmers then moved lands from soybeans and what would have been in soybeans and wheat to corn. We now have further increased the cost of corn and we’ve increased the cost of soybeans and wheat the world around. And one of the members of the United Nations says what we’ve done is a crime against humanity. The effect we’ve had on gasoline use has been absolutely trifling. The National Academy of Sciences** says that if we converted all of our corn, all of our corn, to ethanol and discounted for fossil fuel input it would displace 2.4% of our gasoline. Mr. Chairman, this really represents one of those times as the old farmer says that ‘the juice ain’t worth the squeezing.’ We can do better.”
“I really welcome the Senate’s addition to strengthen CAFÉ standards,” said Congressman Bartlett. “That will make a meaningful contribution to reducing oil use over time.” *The Economist reported on December 6, 2007 that U.S. subsidies for ethanol have increased food prices worldwide. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10250420 **In June 2006, the National Academies of Science (NAS) released a study that concluded there was a very limited potential from corn ethanol and soy biodiesel. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0604600103v1. Two of the NAS study co-authors wrote in the Washington Post on March 25, 2007 that Americans could save more gasoline if we kept our tires inflated and our car engines tuned. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301625.html Additional information and resources about energy from Congressman Bartlett’s website are available at http://bartlett.house.gov/EnergyUpdates/.