Press Release of Senator Lugar Lugar Encourages Swift Action by Treasury on E-85 Tax Credit Thursday, January 19, 2006 In a letter to Treasury Secretary John Snow, U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar joined a bipartisan group of eleven Senators in urging “swift implementation by the Internal Revenue Service of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Tax Credit that was included in the recently enacted Energy Policy Act of 2005.” “The demand for greater access to alternative fuels such as E-85 ethanol and biodiesel has increased significantly among the American public in recent months. Given that this tax credit became effective for properties placed into service January 1, 2006, we urge you to issue preliminary guidance or rulemaking on this new provision as soon as possible. Many stakeholders, including fuel station owners and feedstock suppliers, require certainty for business planning purposes and will benefit from expedited guidance from the Internal Revenue Service regarding this tax credit,” the letter states. Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Mark Dayton (D-MN), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Barack Obama (D-IL), Ken Salazar (D-CO), and Jim Talent (R-MO) joined Lugar in signing the letter. A copy of the letter is available at: http://lugar.senate.gov/reports/E-85_IRS_Letter.pdf. Lugar, member and former Chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, has been a long-time leader in pushing for increased development and use of renewable fuels. In 1999, Lugar co-authored "The New Petroleum" in Foreign Affairs with former CIA Director James Woolsey. This essay (written in a time of relatively low fuel prices) extols the need to accelerate the use of ethanol, especially that derived from cellulose. In 2005, Lugar led 21 bipartisan Senators in introducing the Fuels Security Act to more than double the production and use of domestic renewable fuels including ethanol, biodiesel and fuels produced from cellulosic biomass. This legislation laid the groundwork for the renewable fuels section of the energy bill that passed the Congress in July 2005. Lugar also joined with Sens. Obama and Harkin in introducing the Fuel Security and Consumer Choice Act, that would require all U.S. marketed vehicles to be manufactured as Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) within ten years. FFVs can use both regular gasoline and E-85 renewable fuel (motor fuel with 85 percent ethanol content). ###