In a letter this week to the Governors' Biofuels Coalition, President Barack Obama stated his support for ethanol, calling advanced renewable transportation fuels one of the nation's most important industries for the 21st century.
"Combined with improved energy efficiency, biofuels are the primary near-term option for insulating consumers against future oil price shocks and for lowering the transportation sector's carbon footprint," the President wrote. "The direct consumer benefit has been well documented and producing and using more biofuels today means an immediate reduction in oil imports in addition to an immediate increase in domestic employment."
He writes that his Administration is committed to commercializing emerging cellulosic technologies, but that cellulosic ethanol will only become reality if today's corn-based ethanol remains viable.
"But this transition will be successful only if the first-generation biofuels industry remains viable in the near-term, and if we remove long-standing artificial barriers to market expansion necessary for large volumes of advanced renewable fuels to find a place in America's transportation fuels system," the President said.
The entire letter can be read here: http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/POTUS_letter_to_GBC_52709.pdf
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