PRESS :: Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2003

Contact: Leland Swenson
(530) 756-8518, ext. 36

Farm and Conservation Groups Promote Renewable Fuels for Transport

(DAVIS, CA) The Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) is working with the Planning and Conservation League (PCL) to promote the use of renewable fuels in California’s transportation sector.

At a June 6 Sacramento hearing on a California Strategy to Reduce Petroleum Dependence, CAFF and PCL submitted a joint letter to the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission. In the letter they stated their support for reducing the state’s petroleum use to 15% below 2003 levels by 2020 and increasing that goal to 18% petroleum reduction use by 2030.

The letter, signed by Leland Swenson, CAFF Executive Director, and Fred Keeley of PCL, emphasized California’s ability to produce nearly four billion gallons of ethanol annually using cellulose biomass from agricultural and other residues. “Sustainably grown crops could add significantly to this total,” they said.

Within the petroleum reduction goal, Swenson and Keeley said, “We believe it is important to set a specific goal for the use of renewable fuels.” Citing a new report from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, they pointed out that “ethanol and other fuels which can be blended into the existing fuel stream offer the greatest promise for reducing transportation greenhouse gases during the next 15 years because they can be immediately introduced using the existing infrastructure.”

Commending the Air Resources Board and the Energy Commission for their efforts to provide national leadership in reducing petroleum use, Swenson and Keeley reminded them that renewable fuels, such as ethanol, have the potential to further reduce petroleum use and to achieve the greenhouse gas emission reductions required by law.

“We’re supporting reduction of our dependence on imported oil, and we urge the use of California-grown fuels to replace fossil fuels,” Swenson said. “We don’t need to import ethanol from the Midwest. We can make our own.”

Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) is a California-based organization of rural and urban members dedicated to cultivating healthy farms, food and communities. For more information contact CAFF at (530) 756-8518 or on the Web at www.caff.org

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