Biden calls ethanol ‘a good start’

It’s not a long-term answer on energy, he says

Washington, Ia.- Sen. Joe Biden said Friday that Iowa’s burgeoning ethanol industry is a positive when it comes to curbing the nation’s reliance on foreign oil, but it’s no solution.

“I hope you don’t all bet on the long-term solution to our energy problem being corn-based ethanol,” he told a crowd of about 50 Washington County Democrats during a 90-minute question-and-answer session in the city’s Sunset Park. “We’re like sucklings on oil, and while ethanol’s not the answer, it’s a good start.”

Ethanol will pour millions of dollars into the Midwestern economy, instead of into the Middle East or Venezuela, he said.

But solving the problem also relies on further investment in renewable energy and conservation, the Delaware senator said. Biden said he would impose a 40-mile-per-gallon fuel-efficiency standard on vehicles and require that only environment-friendly structures could be built with federal money.

Des Moines Register