Press Release of Senator Lugar Lugar supports greater fuel efficiency and flexible fuel standards Tuesday, May 19, 2009 U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar said today that our dependence on foreign oil is draining our economy, threatening our national security and harming the environment. He supports the agreement to increase vehicle fuel efficiency and calls for a flexible fuel vehicle requirement.    President Obama’s fuel efficiency announcement mirrors legislation he co-sponsored with Lugar when he was in the Senate (see summary below).    "I am proud to have partnered with President Obama on energy security while he was in the Senate.  Obama-Lugar legislation offered bipartisan solutions to combat America's oil dependence by increasing fuel economy standards, bolstering biofuels and other needed steps.  I congratulate President Obama for bringing together automakers, national security leaders and environmental groups in support of fuel economy reform," Lugar said.   "I encourage the President to include a requirement that all new vehicles using gasoline engines are also flex-fuel capable.  FFV technology is ready today and is a low-cost way to ensure that America's fleet is prepared for future biofuels production."   "Energy security is national security, and there is no more important energy goal than dramatically reducing our dependence on foreign oil.  Oil is a magnet for conflict.  It puts American troops in harms-way and ties the hands of our diplomats.  It drains our economy of billions of dollars, and burning oil damages the environment in which we live."   "CAFE standards have never been a perfect solution, but I have consistently supported them because they have been proven necessary to drive incremental development of fuel efficient technology.  I also strongly support government incentives for biofuels, electric vehicles and other innovative technologies that can propel America's fleet beyond the fuel economy targets announced today."   Legislation supported by Lugar and Obama include: Senator Lugar sponsored the American Fuels Act, S. 2446, with Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) on March 16, 2006. The bill would take a four-step approach to reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil. First, it would spur investment in alternative fuels by increasing the production of cellulosic biomass ethanol (CBE) to 250 million gallons by 2012. It would also create and Alternative Diesel Standard that will require 2 billion gallons of alternative diesels to be mixed into the 40 billion gallon annual national diesel pool by 2015. Second, the legislation would help increase consumer demand for alternative fuels by providing a short term, 35 cents per gallon tax credit for E-85 fuel and by providing automakers with a $100 tax credit for every E85 capable FFV produced. Third, it would require the U.S. government to lead by example by requiring the government to allow alternative fueling stations on government property and by requiring only clean buses be eligible for federal cost sharing. Similarly, it would establish a Department of Defense “fly-off” competition to encourage private sector companies to compete to find energy efficient alternatives for defense purposes. Finally, the bill would create a Director of Energy Security to oversee and keep America focused on the goal of energy independence. Read a copy of the bill courtesy of the Library of Congress Senator Lugar sponsored the Biofuels Security Act, S. 2817, with Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) on May 16, 2006. The bill would require all U.S. marketed vehicles to be manufactured as FFVs by 2016, require the major U.S. gasoline companies to carry E85 renewable fuel in 50 percent of their gas stations, and extend and increase the Renewable Fuels Standard. Read a copy of the bill courtesy of the Library of Congress Senator Lugar cosponsored the Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Production Act, S. 3325, with Senators Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) on May 26, 2006. New Coal-to-Liquid (CTL) technologies enable coal to be liquefied and refined into a product cleaner than standard diesel. The proposal would create tax incentives for CTL technology and the construction of CTL plants. It would also provide for loan guarantees to stimulate private investment. Finally, the legislation would authorize Department of Defense funds to purchase CTL fuels and integrate them into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Read a copy of S. 3623 courtesy of the Library of Congress Senator Lugar sponsored the Alternative Diesel Fuel Act of 2006, S. 3554, with Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Tom Carper (D-DE) on June 21, 2006. The legislation would decrease America's dependence on foreign oil by requiring that 2 billion gallons of alternative diesel be produced domestically by the year 2015. The diesel alternatives would be mixed into the 40 billion gallon diesel pool by the year 2015. The bill is modeled after the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), an initiative that passed the Senate in 2005, which required that the national gasoline supply to consist of at least 7.5 billion gallons of home-grown ethanol by the year 2012. Read a copy of the bill courtesy of the Library of Congress Senator Lugar sponsored the Fuel Economy Reform Act, S. 3694, with Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Joe Biden (D-DE), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Norm Coleman (R-MN), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) on July 19, 2006. The legislation would break the logjam on establishing greater vehicle fuel economy by creating a 4 % target for annual increases in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. This target would be subject to revision if the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could prove the targets technologically unachievable or unable to guarantee fleet safety, among other considerations. The bill would also provide tax incentives to manufacturers to retool their production and assembly plants, and extend the current tax credit to consumers who buy hybrid vehicles beyond the first 60,000 buyers per manufacturer. If the bill is enacted, it could save as many as 549 billion gallons of gasoline and cut global warming pollution by 6,094 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent gases by 2028. Read a copy of the bill courtesy of the Library of Congress Senator Lugar sponsored the Fuels Security Act of 2005, S. 650, on March 17, 2005. The legislation would amend the Clean Air Act to require that motor vehicle fuel contain a certain amount of renewable fuel. The bill would more than double the production and use of domestic renewable fuels including ethanol, biodiesel, and fuels produced from cellulosic biomass. In addition to improving rural economies, it would spur investment in valuable infrastructure that is critical to the viability of a national renewable fuels system. Read a copy of the bill courtesy of the Library of Congress  More formation on the Lugar energy initiative may be found at: http://lugar.senate.gov/energy/.   # # #