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News from Rep. Stephanie Herseth
For Immediate Release
Contact: Russ Levsen, 202-226-4449

HERSETH ASKS THE PRESIDENT TO KEEP HIS WORD, INVEST IN RENEWABLE FUELS TECHNOLOGY

February 3, 2006, Washington, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth is urging President Bush to keep his pledge for investment in renewable fuels research and technology following mixed signals from officials including the Secretary of Energy. On Tuesday, during his State of the Union address, the President committed himself to breaking America's "addiction to oil" through renewable energy. The next day, however, the President's Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman backtracked on the pledge, saying that the President "didn't mean it literally." And on Thursday, it was reported that the Energy Department will begin laying off biofuel and renewable energy researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory due to budget cuts.

Late yesterday, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth wrote to the President, urging him to keep his commitment to renewable fuels by reflecting this priority in the 2007 budget recommendations he will outline early next week. Herseth asked that that the President would "significantly increase funding to the Department of Energy's (DOE) Renewable Energy Laboratory and all of its laboratories and technology centers so that research might actually increase in the coming years." Additionally, Herseth requested that the President fully fund the Sun Grant Initiative, a collaboration of five highly regarded land-grant universities, including South Dakota State University, working to address America's long-term energy needs and revitalize rural communities through land-grant university research, education, and extension programs on renewable energy.

Herseth said, "The President was correct when he highlighted renewable fuels like ethanol as a key solution on the road to energy independence, and I am hopeful that he will back up his bold words with bold actions. The 2007 budget recommendations represent a tremendous opportunity, and I will work with the President and my colleagues in the Congress to make any bold biofuel plan a reality."

In his State of the Union, Bush vowed to fund research into better batteries for hybrid vehicles and more production of the alternative fuel ethanol, setting a goal of eliminating "more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." Herseth has been leading an effort among House Democrats to completely eliminate dependency on foreign oil in 10 years.

"It is a victory that a longtime supporter of the oil industry to recognize the need to shift from imported oil to biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel. With the right investments, studies have shown that we can completely eliminate our dependence of foreign oil through biofuels in ten years. I look forward to any debate that puts America's energy needs in the hands of South Dakota's producers, and I sincerely hope that the President is serious about moving this debate forward."

The full text of Herseth's letter is below.

February 2, 2006

The President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC, 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I listened with interest to your State of the Union Speech on January 31 and was pleased to hear you voice support for policies that would greatly increase the production and use of renewable fuels in this country. Accomplishing this goal would have many far-reaching benefits and I hope to be able to support any specific initiatives that you submit to Congress.

Regrettably, only two days after your speech, I noted the following information in today's New York Times:

"The Energy Department will begin laying off researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the next week or two because of cuts to its budget.

A veteran researcher said the staff had been told that the cuts would be concentrated among researchers in wind and biomass, which includes ethanol. Those are two of the technologies that Mr. Bush cited on Tuesday night as holding the promise to replace part of the nation's oil imports.

The budget for the laboratory, which is just west of Denver, was cut by nearly 15 percent, to $174 million from $202 million, requiring the layoff of about 40 staff members out of a total of 930, said a spokesman, George Douglas. The cut is for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1." (Elisabeth Bumiller, Bush's Goals on Energy Quickly Find Obstacles, N.Y. Times, February 2, 2006 at A1.)

Given your recent vocal support for the expeditious development and increased utilization of renewable biofuels in this country, this development is very disappointing and seems completely contradictory to your commitments. As you finalize your budget for Fiscal Year 2007, I urge you to significantly increase funding to the Department of Energy's (DOE) Renewable Energy Laboratory and all of its laboratories and technology centers so that research might actually increase in the coming years.

In addition to adequate funding for DOE, there is another important step that you can take to accomplish these goals. I strongly encourage you to fully fund the Sun Grant Initiative, a collaboration of five highly regarded land-grant universities working to address America's long-term energy needs and revitalize rural communities through land-grant university research, education, and extension programs on renewable energy. The five regional Sun Grant centers that conduct this work are:

• South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota
• Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
• Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma
• Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

This entity, created three years ago, is authorized by the Sun Grant Research Initiative Act of 2003 (7 U.S.C. 8101, et seq.). It is is authorized at $75 million for FY07, and I strongly encourage you to include full funding for this critical research program in your budget.

I commend you for your recent comments supporting the expanded use of renewable biofuels in this country, and I urge you to back those words up with action - adequate funding of the DOE's renewable energy research programs and full funding for the Land Grant Initiative. Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely

Stephanie Herseth

United States Congress

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