Guess what? President Bush talked about ethanol in his State of the Union address tonight! No kidding!
As expected, energy was part of the president’s speech and his most memorable line was “America is addicted to oil” – a headline that was splashed all over the internet news services as soon as they received their advanced copies of the address, hours before it was actually made. The president devoted less than three minutes of his address to energy, but it was the most highly anticipated by the media and – naturally – those in the domestic fuel industry. The Renewable Fuels Association even sent out a press release with reaction to the yet-to-be-made address at 5:30 pm EST (although they did note it was embargoed until 9:30 EST).
What the president had to say was certainly good news for the ethanol industry, announcing the Advanced Energy Initiative – a 22 percent increase in clean energy research at the Department of Energy. “We must also change how we power our automobiles,” Bush said. “We will also fund additional research in cutting edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn, but from wood chips and stalks or switch grass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years.” After sustained applause the president added, “Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.” Listen to President Bush’s full domestic energy remarks here.