U.S. Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, a longtime friend of renewable and clean energy efforts, has announced he will not seek re-election in 2010.

During his nearly 40 years of elected service as Missouri’s State Auditor, the state’s youngest governor and a U.S. Senator (which he served an amazing four, six-year terms), Bond has been a great advocate for green fuels.

The National Biodiesel Board offered these thoughts on Bond’s upcoming departure:

“Senator Bond is a model for the kind of strong leader and courageous public servant that our country needs,” said Joe Jobe, CEO of the NBB. “Senator Bond has been a pioneering leader for renewable energy and has contributed greatly to the progress our country has made so far.”

“Senator Bond’s work helped give birth, strength, and support to this emerging industry which is responsible for bringing an estimated 20,000 green jobs and over 700 million gallons of domestic renewable fuel to the fuel supply,” Jobe said.

Bond picked up the NBB’s National Energy Leadership award in 2001.

As for ethanol, last August at the Missouri State Fair, Bond had this to say:

Our farm raised renewable fuels have lowered prices for Missouri drivers and offered some relief from our energy supply shortfall, said Bond. Missouri is also pioneering experiments that use livestock manure to produce asphalt, subsurface drainage and irrigation systems that save energy and water, and more efficient enzymatic processes that will make cellulosic ethanol production widespread. These are only a few examples of leadership Missouri agriculturalists have shown that will lead Missouri to our next step, said Bond. The 21st century will be the age of agricultural innovation to solve the global needs for fuel and Missouri’s farm fields will help serve as a part of that solution, said Bond.

Although he has just two years left in the U.S. Senate, Bond promises they will be the best years of his career. And you can bet that biodiesel and ethanol will be the beneficiaries of that work… just like they have been for many years.

Thank you, Senator!