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Letter to the editor

Leaders pumped up over biofuels

Charlie Crist finds like minds among other governors.

By ASJYLYN LODER, Times Staff Writer
Published December 14, 2007

Left to right: Carolyn Markey and Eric Henning of General Motors and Gov. Charlie Crist look at the Chevy Volt outside the InterContinental Tampa. Crist was participating in the Governors' Summit on Alternative Transportation Fuels and Advanced Vehicles. The Chevy Volt is an electric vehicle that will also use gasoline, ethanol or biodiesel fuels.
	[Chris Zuppa | Times]

Bothered by dependence on foreign oil and blitzed by advertising, many a motoring do-gooder has purchased a flex-fuel vehicle. If that motorist lives in Florida, a cruel surprise awaits: Sioux Falls, Iowa, has more ethanol stations than all of Florida.

Bringing biofuels to Floridians - and to other ethanol-hungry parts of the United States - is the theme of a two-day National Governors Association conference at Tampa's InterContinental Hotel. Gov. Charlie Crist will be joined by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to voice their commitment to getting biofuels flowing.

"Governors have the opportunity in states across the country to drive a national conversation and, frankly, to make some national policy by the agreements we forge with one another," Sebelius said.

Crist has styled himself a climate-change warrior in recent months, joining state-by-state efforts to reform energy policy here and around the country. On Thursday, he cautioned against pessimism and politics.

"If you look at this full of gloom and pessimism, then you will depress people from moving forward and doing what's right," Crist said.

When it comes to reforming transportation, alternative fuels face several hurdles on their way to our cars, said Rick Eggebrecht, co-founder of VeraSun Energy, a South Dakota company that produces 560-million gallons of ethanol each year.

Florida doesn't yet produce ethanol and has limited production of biodiesel. Several alternative-fuel projects in the state have run into delays.

Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or (813) 225-3117.

[Last modified December 13, 2007, 22:49:19]