North Dakota Gov. Hoeven Asks EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson To Expedite Raising Ethanol Blend

June 5, 2009 -- BISMARCK, N.D. - North Dakota Governor John Hoeven today spoke with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson to request that EPA expedite his previous request to raise the ethanol blended gasoline variance to 15 percent from the current 10 percent blend.

The move would help to expand the market for domestically produced biofuels, according to Hoeven. The Governor, as chairman of the Governors Biofuels Coalition, made the formal request in February to President Barack Obama.

“The nation needs greater energy independence, and domestic ethanol producers need a boost under current market conditions,” Hoeven said. “Increasing the proportion of ethanol to 15 percent would move us closer to both goals.”

Jackson said she will work to move the process forward expeditiously, but either way they must respond to the request from the governors and ethanol industry by December.

Hoeven also invited Administrator Jackson to North Dakota, so that she could see firsthand the innovative biofuels technologies and practices being pioneered in the state. He cited the Blue Flint Ethanol facility near Underwood, which is using waste heat from the adjacent coal-fired power plant to produce 60 million gallons of ethanol per year. He also asked her to join him for a tour of the Tharaldson Ethanol plant, which uses recycled waste water from nearby Fargo as its sole water source to produce 120 million gallons of ethanol per year.

“These are two unique environmental success stories, and we originated them here in North Dakota,” Hoeven said. “We are producing more energy in environmentally sound ways for the nation, and we’d very much like her to see how we’re doing it.”

Source: North Dakota Governor