Obama kicks biofuel strategy into higher gear

Los Angeles Times
By Jim Tankersley
February 3, 2010 8:26 a.m.

The president will outline a new effort to increase the nation's use of crop-based fuels. An earlier plan, hampered by the financial crisis and other factors, wasn't up to snuff, officials say.

Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration today will unveil a revamped strategy to ramp up the nation's use of biofuel in hopes of fixing a government effort that officials admit has fallen short in its attempts to wean cars and trucks away from fossil fuels and move toward ethanol, biodiesel and other crop-based fuels.

The new strategy, which the president will outline in an afternoon meeting with Cabinet secretaries and his top energy advisor, seeks to put the United States on track to produce 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 -- the amount mandated by Congress in the 2007 energy bill.

The nation currently produces about 12 billion gallons, mostly from corn ethanol, and the federal government projects the country will not meet the 2022 goal.

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