Statewide Iowa — Congresswoman Cindy Axne, a Democrat from West Des Moines, says the initial draft of the Democrats’ infrastructure plan in the U.S. House now reserves a billion dollars to promote the use of ethanol and biodiesel over the next eight years.
Axne says it will be quite some time before electric models make up the majority of vehicles in use in America and biofuels are a greener alternative to gasoline and to hybrid electric vehicles with a liquid fuel back-up.
A recent study led by a Harvard University environmental health professor found carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions from corn-based ethanol were 46 percent lower than from gasoline. Axne says she’s pretty confident the billion dollars for biofuels will stay in the infrastructure package, but she concedes it hasn’t been an easy fight to get it included in the initial draft.
The bill, which Democrats call their Build Back Better plan, was to be considered in the U.S. House Agriculture Committee Friday.
