Pawlenty is pitching ethanol to colleagues

"MN Governor"

09/27/2005

Star Tribune
September 27, 2005

Gov. Tim Pawlenty is sending a letter to every governor in the country urging them to increase the use of ethanol and other alternative fuels in their state.

“I’ve had the opportunity to see how ethanol can benefit a state’s economy,” Pawlenty said Monday in downtown St. Paul during a national meeting of the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition, of which he is the chairman.

Pawlenty is asking his colleagues to adopt a goal of “E-10 by 2010,” which means blending at least 10 percent corn-based ethanol into their gasoline by that year.

Minnesota, the only state in the nation that has implemented a 10 percent ethanol mandate so far, is moving to a 20 percent mandate by 2013.

On Thursday, a new requirement takes effect that diesel fuel sold in Minnesota contain at least 2 percent soybean-based biodiesel.

Ethanol production generates more than 5,000 jobs and $1.3 billion a year for the state’s economy, Pawlenty said.

“Minnesota is a world leader in this,” he said. “We have had a great success in the last 10 years.”

The governor also said using more ethanol would safeguard national security by reducing reliance on foreign oil.

And he told dozens of delegates at the conference that ethanol production would help rural communities with jobs.

“There is an incredible market for ethanol,” he said. “The economics for this have never been better.”