Pawlenty defends ethanol mandate

04/27/2006

Governor rejects Bush criticism of state rules

BY BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press

Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Wednesday he would oppose any attempt by President Bush to eliminate or reduce Minnesota’s mandate requiring a 10 percent ethanol blend in gasoline.

Bush on Tuesday criticized state governments for requiring too many localized fuel blends, saying they raise gas prices and hamper national fuel distribution.

He didn’t mention Minnesota, but it’s the only state that has required a 10 percent ethanol blend since 1997.

“For the president to suggest that these types of local requirements for blends are somehow a concern or an impediment is a grave concern to me and I believe to Minnesotans,” Pawlenty said at a news conference in a Capitol parking lot with his Chevy Suburban that runs on E85, an 85 percent ethanol fuel blend, as a backdrop for the cameras.

Bush said he would ask the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to form a task force of governors to find ways to reduce the number of “boutique fuels” that various states require.

Pawlenty said he would ask Bush and the EPA head to clarify their intentions of fuel blends. If they intend to limit or eliminate ethanol blends, “that would be something we’d want to fight ferociously as Minnesotans.”

“Our hope is that … every state would adopt at least an E10 mandate in gasoline, and if the president is concerned about uniformity in gasoline mixes, then we should set a national floor for ethanol use in gasoline,” he said.

Minnesota has 16 plants producing 450 million gallons of fuel annually. Pawlenty has become an outspoken ethanol proponent, a politically popular position in farm country, and last year helped enact a law mandating a 20-percent ethanol blend in fuels by 2012.