Bill Promoting Pipelines Introduced

U.S. Senators Tom Harkin, John Thune and Tim Johnson have introduced legislation that authorizes loan guarantees for the construction of renewable fuel pipeline projects. This bill would establish a transportation system to move renewable fuels from where they are manufactured, the Midwest and Plains states, to where they are needed, along the east and west coasts.

Harkin said - promoting the planning and development of projects that transport renewable fuels efficiently and inexpensively helps enlarge the market for biofuels like ethanol, reduces our dependence on foreign fuels and will provide good construction jobs. Thune said - pipelines are the safest, most reliable and cost effective way to move biofuels from the areas they are produced to the markets where they are consumed.

Senator Johnson said - transportation options of truck, rail and barge will only get us so far. When compared to other forms of biofuel transportation, pipelines have the lowest energy input requirements and produce the least amount of carbon emissions. In fact, pipelines produce 30 percent less emissions than railcars and 87 percent less than trucks.