In Brazil, Biofuels Dream Is Already Reality

The Washington Post
By Luciana Pereira Franco
Post-Wilson Fellow
Wednesday, October 29, 2008; 12:00 AM

The Iowa farm Chuck Grassley calls home sits on 800 acres bursting with corn and soybeans. Though he bought it in the 1960s, his rural roots stretch back to his childhood, when his father set up a family agribusiness after World War II. But it would not be as a farmer that Grassley would leave his biggest mark on American agriculture. That would come after Grassley -- now a U.S. senator from Iowa -- turned to politics, becoming one of the nation's leading advocates of biofuels.

He championed ethanol as early as the 1980s, before most Americans even knew what it was. In the 1990s, he worked hard to increase ethanol production and consumption in the United States. As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, he created tax credits for ethanol, which years later were extended to other biofuels. His stated goal: for Americans to derive 25 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2025.

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