US presses ahead with biofuel law, despite opposition from Texas

Legislation has been introduced in the US Congress that would require 80 per cent of all cars manufactured or sold in the US to run on ethanol, methanol or biodiesel in addition to regular petrol.

The Open Fuel Standard Act of 2008 would mandate "flex fuel" automobiles that could run on 85 per cent ethanol.

The bill cited fuel independence as a critical problem for the US, arguing that the status of oil imports was a "clear and present danger" to the nation. "The United States has an urgent national security interest to develop alcohol fuels technology, production and distribution systems as rapidly as possible," said the text of the bill. It was introduced by senators including Joe Lieberman, whose bill to enforce a cap-and-trade scheme for carbon emissions in the US was defeated in the Senate.

This would be the latest boost for the ethanol industry from the US government, which last year increased the amount of ethanol production originally mandated under the Renewable Fuels Standard. The US is now required to produce 36 billion barrels of ethanol each year by 2022.

Bill Van Amburg, senior vice president of non-profit advanced transport research organisation WestStart-Calstart, welcomed the development. "Having flexibility in our vehicles so they can burn a range of fuel blends is actually a good idea," he said. "Some of these fuel options will be more available in some regions than others, but this makes the car prepared for what's available, and it is a relatively inexpensive modification."

The legislation was introduced at controversial time for the EPA. Last week, it notified the State of Texas that it was not yet ready to respond to a request by the State to have the Renewable Fuel Standard waived. The request, issued in April, pleaded a negative effect on the economy as ethanol production drove up the cost of corn and affected cattle feed prices for farmers.

The request for a waiver from Texas mirrors wider global concerns amongst economists and environmentalists that demand for biofuels made from feedstocks such as corn, soya, sugar cane and palm oil has made a significant contribution to rising food prices and may have also led to increased deforestation in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia.

The row reached a head at a UN-backed food summit in Rome last month when the US rejected International Monetary Fund figures suggesting biofuels had led to 20 to 30 per cent of recent food price rises in favour of its own data showing they had contributed to less than three per cent of food price inflation.