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Politics

Crist sees biofuel light in Brazil

The nation's take on alternative energy provides the "best example."

By DAVID ADAMS, Latin America Correspondent
Published November 8, 2007

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's visit to Brazil this week was always going to be more than just a trade mission.

It was, in fact, part of what he calls a far larger "journey" of discovery into a brave new world in which greener biofuels can make the planet a better place.

"We are forging new horizons, and the greater good will benefit from it because we will become more independent, more free, and protect and save democracy," Crist told a business gathering in this sprawling city of 20-million.

Despite sounding at times like an environmental evangelist - "doing God's work," he called it - Crist's trip was also all about practical business realities. Besides cementing relations with Florida's largest trading partner, Crist hopes this trip will help define his vision of Florida's energy future.

"Brazil is the best example to learn from on the planet."

Like all journeys, Crist's mission hit some bumps Tuesday. Bad weather prevented his plane from landing for a visit to the world's largest sugar mill, Barra Bonita, outside Sao Paulo.

Even so, Crist appears to have come away with some of the answers he was looking for.

Crist told reporters he now has no doubts about the benefits of biofuels to the environment. But Florida is still at the "very initial stages" of developing a state biofuels policy, he said. While he supports a state mandate for blending ethanol with gasoline, he has not decided how or when it should be implemented.

"I want to accelerate. I want to push on the ethanol," he said. "Sooner than later is better."

While Crist scores high marks for enthusiasm, some skeptics question how realistic some of his ideas are.

Brazil and the United States are the world's two largest ethanol producers, with a combined 12-billion gallons annual production, accounting for more than 70 percent of global capacity.

Florida produces no ethanol of its own, and has no pipeline connections with the rest of the country. Instead, 99 percent of its fuel is delivered by tanker to ports, mainly Tampa, Port Everglades and Jacksonville. Experts say it would be cheaper and easier to import Brazil's cheap sugar cane ethanol than more expensive ethanol from the Midwest corn belt.

But ethanol imports from Brazil face a prohibitive federal tariff until at least January 2010. Crist spoke against the tariff on Monday, saying he would actively lobby for its removal.

State agriculture officials believe Florida could produce as much as 40 percent of its biofuel needs, using emerging cellulosic ethanol technology that can make fuel from almost any crop, including citrus peel, wood chips and sugar cane waste. Several projects are under way, but commercial operations are still a long way off.

"We need to manage the expectations there," said George Philippidis, a petrochemical engineer at Florida International University, who is one of the state's leading biofuels experts. Cellulosic technology is at least five years from commercial reality, he said.

The cheapest and fastest way to meet Florida's potential ethanol demand would be investment in expanding extra capacity at existing Brazilian ethanol refineries, Philippidis said. "There's going to be a very quick response once the U.S. market opens up."

But replacing 10 percent of Florida's annual gasoline consumption would require a whopping 860-million gallons of ethanol, almost a fifth of Brazil's current production.

American biofuels start-up companies, like U.S. Envirofuels in Tampa, oppose lifting the tariff, fearing cheap Brazilian ethanol would swamp the market and stifle investment in local production.

[Last modified November 8, 2007, 06:15:18]