OLYMPIA – State lawmakers smitten by biofuel’s allure are pressing hard for the state to invest millions in producing the petroleum alternative and to impose mandates that guarantee a market for it.
The strategy, forged by liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans, advanced Friday in the House of Representa- tives amid criticism from colleagues that government was improperly manipulating supply of and demand for the resource.
It’s a caution being heeded by advocates of this new energy source.
“There is a natural fear we’re going too far too fast,” said Sen. Erik Poulsen, D-Seattle. “We’re hoping we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot and spend a lot of taxpayer dollars down the drain.”
Legislators and Gov. Chris Gregoire view the promise of biofuel as a boon to farmers, a boost for the economy and a bulkhead against dependence on foreign oil.
Reality is setting in that farmers won’t get rich any quicker, the economy won’t explode overnight and the state’s dependence on foreign oil won’t end with mass plantings of crops such as canola used in making biodiesel. But promoters are not deterred.
“It’s a perfect storm of opportunity,” said Rep. Brian Sullivan, D-Mukilteo, who three years ago wrote the state’s first law providing tax incentives for biodiesel production.
“But everyone is being cautious,” he said. “We’re making major long-range decisions here, and it is a short session, so we need to be careful about the implications.”
On Friday, legislators passed HB 2939, creating the Energy Freedom Program to issue $25 million in loans to researchers, growers, producers and sellers of alternative fuels. A second bill passed Friday requires that a minimum amount of fuel sold in the state be biodiesel, ethanol or another biofuel.
The actions follow House approval in January of $9 million in loans to four public agencies to buy equipment for crushing the seeds used to make biodiesel.
Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, said the spate of legislation crosses the line from good intentions to bad policies.
“When you decide to go into private business, which is what we’re doing, and we’re going to fund the enterprise and sustain it and create a market for the product and continue to subsidize it, that is wrong,” she said.
Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, who sponsored the $9 million loan bill, said the state must do all it can to jump-start the industry.
“One hundred years from now, it won’t be oil that runs our economy. It will be something else,” he said. “Change is required not by some hug-a-tree, granola kind of stuff, but by the realities of supply and demand.”
Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, a wheat farmer, said taxpayer dollars are not adequately protected because interest rates are not set and repayments can be delayed up to two years.
His bigger concern is with mandates that he said distort the free market system.
“For ideological reasons, we’re going to force people to buy a product,” he said. “Consumers don’t buy the notion that they should pay 20 percent more and feel good for doing an altruistic thing. What they want is value.”
Standards offer farmers the assurances they need to get involved.
“My constituents are asking for it. It is not government mandate so much as it is government-created opportunity,” said Rep. Janea Holmquist, R-Moses Lake, a sponsor of the bill.
For Dunshee, this is about vision. Inaction is not an option.
“We are running out of oil,” he said. “We need to move to other systems. Biodiesel is that system.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@ heraldnet.com
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