At the National Governors' Conference in Washington yesterday several Midwest governors--Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, and Republican Govs. John Hoeven of North Dakota, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota--made a pitch to the Obama administration for greater use of alternative energy, particularly ethanol and wind.
They specifically urged the Environmental Protection Agency to allow a higher percentage of ethanol to be blended into gasoline. The governors said this would benefit rural economies and help the U.S. meet a renewable fuels standard that will require 36 billion gallons of biofuels to be blended into gasoline by 2022.
In addition, the governors urged the government to require utilities to provide a minimum of 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar. They also pushed for increased construction of transmission capacity and for longterm tax credits on wind energy production.
No comments:
Post a Comment