State drivers could have a greener option at the pump under a measure approved Friday by the state House of Representatives as part of a larger energy independence package.
The measure, which passed on a 70-28 vote, requires 2 percent of the state’s diesel sales to be biodiesel by Dec. 1, 2008.
By that same date, gasoline must be blended with a minimum blend of 2 percent ethanol. Ethanol standards could jump to 10 percent if air quality won’t be affected.
Snohomish County leaders have shown support for home-grown fuel, so much so that they are running some of the county’s fleet on a blend of fuel that is 20 percent biodiesel.
Even some Snohomish County drivers using biodiesel are willing to pay more for it, and drive well out of their way to fill up with it.
Biodiesel is a vegetable oil-based fuel that can be burned in place of regular diesel or mixed in varying blends; ethanol can be distilled from corn and grain and mixed with gasoline.
“This will help to break our addiction to imported oil,” said Rep. Janea Holmquist, R-Moses Lake and the prime sponsor of the bill. “Every bushel of feedstock could be one less barrel of foreign or domestic oil.”
The measure, which now heads to the Senate, differs from an original plan that would have required a minimum of 2 percent of biodiesel blend per gallon of diesel, and pushes back the mandatory deadline by 17 months from July 2007 to December 2008. Holmquist and Rep. Jeff Morris, D-Anacortes, said the reason for the change was to provide more flexibility for distributors and customers.
The goal of 20 million gallons of biodiesel sold a year in the state would not change, Holmquist said. More than 50 million gallons of ethanol would be sold annually under the bill.
The measure also creates an advisory committee that will report to the director of the state Department of Agriculture on implementing the new standards and whether they’re feasible.
The director will make a recommendation to the Legislature and Gov. Chris Gregoire by Sept. 1, 2007.
Opponents argued that the mandates were a bad idea. One amendment, seeking to impose the mandates only on state fleets, was defeated.
“It would be better if we could phase this in over a period of time, trying it with state vehicles to see how it’s working and then we move forward,” said Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee.
But Morris, the chairman of the Technology, Energy &Communications committee, said the time to move forward was now.
“This is not the be-all, end-all for biofuel,” he said. “But we’re going to stay ahead of the pack with this investment.”
Supporters also say the mandates will assure Washington farmers that a market exists that will make new crops worth their while.
“With this bill we are creating a new commodity market and that is definitely good for agriculture,” Holmquist said.
Demand for biodiesel and ethanol has grown with the rising cost of gasoline and other petroleum fuels, and supporters of the measure say it will create more jobs and a more diversified agricultural economy.
Under the bill, fuel pump labels would show how much biodiesel or ethanol is in the diesel or gasoline. But opponents argued that because customers could choose to forgo the biodiesel – something they won’t be able to do with the ethanol in the gasoline – biodiesel suppliers risk getting stuck with a product that people may not want.
“What do the suppliers do with the extra biodiesel they have purchased that nobody bought?” asked Rep. Lynn Schindler, R-Spokane Valley.
| What biodiesel means to farmers, motorists and politicians, in Sunday’s Herald. |
The House is expected to vote Saturday on a $25 million-a-year measure that creates the “energy freedom program,” which will provide loans for research and development of new and renewable energy and biofuel sources – such as solar and wind power – and for development of renewable energy and biofuel facilities.
Last week, the House passed a package of emergency loans for the state’s nascent oilseed industry.
The money would fund four proposed crushing plants in Eastern Washington, where canola and other crops could be reduced to oil. The oil would later be blended with diesel fuel to create biodiesel.
Supporters believe the crushers will help Washington leap ahead in production of both oilseeds and biodiesel.
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