Memorial Day may be over but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think about our veterans for another year. This past holiday, Clean Fuels Development Coalition (CFDC) and the FlexFuel Vehicle Awareness Campaign partnered with the Volunteers of Underage Military Service (VUMS) with a procession of ethanol and hybrid electric vehicles in a Memorial Day parade in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the event was to showcase the role ethanol has in the country’s quest for national security and domestic clean energy.

One of the participants of the event was Marine Lt. Col. (ret) William C. Holmberg, a VUM and board member of American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). “Our slogan is There is no National Security without Energy Security,” said Holmberg. “Groups like CFDC, Ethanol Across America, the Flexible Fuel Vehicle Awareness Campaign and ACORE work every day to increase that awareness. Marching together in the shadow of the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and the memorials helps people get the connection that much of the unrest around the globe has links to oil. Increasing our supply of domestic fuels makes our nation safer and more secure, plain and simple.”

The procession included the CFDC/Ethanol Across America FlexFuel Chevy Avalanche and Novozymes’ FlexFuel Vehicle promoting biomass to ethanol. Today there are more than 9 million flex fuel vehicles on the road. Doug Durante, director of the Ethanol Across America program noted that if these vehicles ran on fuels such as ethanol the country could immediately reduce its reliance on foreign sources of oil and military costs associated with protecting oil interests.

“It is an honor for us to be part of the salute to all those who have served. Our generation sees the loss of jobs, wealth, and military cost of importing more than 60% of our oil, and we have an opportunity to do something about it,” said Durante. “If reducing our dependence on oil keeps us out of one less conflict, and keeps young Americans from having to be memorialized, then we should all be working toward that goal.”

Col. Holmberg concluded by adding, “Alternative fuel, high-mileage vehicles and ethanol are our front lines in securing a more secure energy future for America, and, by the way, major artillery in our climate change battles.”