By Don Davis and Scott Wente
The Forum, Fargo, N.D.
ST. PAUL - A plan to boost ethanol use in gasoline breezed through the Senate and supporters say a similar outcome is expected in the House.
It just might take a bit longer.
Bill sponsor Rep. Greg Davids said there is widespread support in the House to double the amount of ethanol content from 10 percent to 20 percent in gasoline sold in Minnesota.
But Davids, R-Preston, said the bill needed tweaking before it was approved Tuesday by the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, its first of several stops in the House.
“They got it done quick and we’re gonna get it done right,” he said of the Senate.
Davids, chairman of the House committee, wanted an amendment saying that refineries and automotive manufacturers won’t be held liable for any engine problems if E20 fuel is approved by the federal government.
Davids is confident that won’t be an issue, but he said the amendment was added in part to satisfy groups concerned about the ethanol proposal.
“If it doesn’t work for everyone, it’ll work for no one,” he said.
Bob Krogman, executive director of the Minnesota Petroleum Marketers Association, said his group doesn’t oppose the amended plan.
The proposed E20 mandate would kick in on Jan. 1, 2012. The state needs a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to sell the 20 percent ethanol blend.
Davids said he’s optimistic about the bill’s chances of passing the full House.
“This is the ethanol freight train coming at you. Get out of the way or you’re gonna get run over,” he said.
Rep. Collin Peterson, a Democrat who represents western Minnesota, said the Legislature’s movement toward a 20 percent ethanol mandate puts the state in the national limelight.
“Minnesota again will be setting the standards for the country,” Peterson said during a state Capitol appearance Tuesday.
The state is the only one to require that ethanol, usually made from corn, be added to gasoline.
The ranking House Agriculture Committee Democrat, Peterson said it is important to increase the use of ethanol because he feels Saudi Arabia’s rulers may soon fall, putting the future of American oil in jeopardy. Ethanol could help replace Saudi oil, he said.
Other countries and states are looking at existing Minnesota law that mandates a 10 percent ethanol blend, the congressman said.
Ethanol bills Minnesota legislators are considering this year would require federal approval before a 20 percent mandate would take effect. However, Peterson said that an energy bill expected to be up for a vote in a few months would allow Minnesota to proceed with the mandate even without specific federal approval.
Peterson and state DFL farm senators discussed ethanol with Gov. Tim Pawlenty Tuesday.
Sen. Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy, said the legislative ethanol proposal, with just a dozen votes against it in the Senate Monday, shows a new attitude from when lawmakers mandated 10 percent ethanol.
“We barely got it through, so that mood has changed.”
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