Senate Spending Bill Keeps Military Biofuels
The U.S. Senate yesterday passed a continuing budget resolution that would keep the federal government operating through the end of the fiscal year on September 30th and keep funding for advanced biofuels testing in the military.
By a vote of 40-59, the Senate rejected an amendment from Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-PA) that would have transferred $60 million in funding for military biofuels testing to increase Defense Department operations and maintenance funding. Toomey said in a press release he was very disappointed in his colleagues who “would rather spend taxpayer dollars on more wasteful biofuel subsidies than support essential maintenance operations for our military.”
Adam Monroe, president of advanced biofuels company Novozymes, praised the Senate for continuing its support of the Navy’s advanced biofuels program. “Every day we import oil, we’re putting our troops, families and country at needless risk. We can reduce that risk with a secure energy supply, including renewable fuels,” said Monroe. Last year, Novozymes opened an advanced manufacturing plant in Blair, Nebraska which specializes in enzymes for both the conventional and advanced biofuel markets.
The Senate spending bill was approved 73-26 and now goes to the House.
2 Comments
Martin Tjossem
I looked at his biography and see he was a member of the House in 2003. I wonder if he was in favor of the war in Iraq, a war about oil. If so, he should truly be disappointed in himself.
Cliff Claven
This whole farcical pursuit is the opposite of National Security. The first and only US cellulosic ethanol plant to “earn” EPA RIN tax credits has declared bankruptcy. See http://www.energytrendsinsider.com/2013/03/19/first-commercial-cellulosic-ethanol-plant-goes-bankrupt/. Congress and the two recent administrations have been leading the federal government down this same path of false hope and insolvency using the military as a front for funneling more taxpayer cash to politically-connected friends. The military has paid as much as $4,450 a gallon for biofuels. The average price has been more the $50 a gallon. The absolute lowest prices it has paid bottom out at more than $25 a gallon. The Air Force bought camelina jet fuel from Sustainable Oils for $38.60 a gallon in 2010. The Navy got chicken fat diesel and jet fuel from Dynamic Fuels for $26.75 a gallon in 2011 and sugar syrup diesel from Amyris for $25.73 a gallon in 2012. Amyris has since quit the fuel business and switched to fish food and cosmetics because even that price per gallon was a loss for them. You can get low-grade fatty acids to use as fuel fillers or additives for quite a bit cheaper, but making fuels that can truly replace petroleum fuels is terribly expensive. It costs a lot of energy to convert biomass carbohydrates or lipids into hydrocarbons. There ain’t no way to cheat the laws of chemistry and physics. Sounds like certain congressmen from certain farm states beholden to the ag-industry cartel of ADM, Cargill, and POET or otherwise indebted to campaign bundlers and other friends of the administration will continue to force the military to backdoor subsidize biofuel snake oil salesmen while that same military scraps aircraft carriers and cuts troop training. In the real world, there are physical and economic laws that refuse to bend to political rhetoric and deficit spending.
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