US senate overturns proposal to limit alternative fuels open to military

The US senate has voted to repeal certain language being included in section 313 of the annual Defense appropriations bill which concerned the future use of alternative fuels in the US military.

The final vote, taken in late November, was 62-37 in favour of prohibiting a proposed clause by Republican senator Jim Inhofe which would have prohibited the Department of Defense (DoD) from buying alternative fuels if they cost more than conventional ones.

If the vote went the other way, the bill would have blocked efforts to develop a commercial supply of cost-competitive advanced biofuels as detailed in a Memorandum of Understanding between the DoD, Department of Energy (DoE), and US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The proposal was seen as a direct assault on the DoD’s advanced biofuels policy and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), but Democrat senator Mark Udall led the calls to overturn it.

“This vote was a good test vote for the RFS. Over 60 senators went on record supporting biofuels policy, a very good bi-partisan outcome and a strong signal to investors,’ comments Biotechnology Industry Organisation executive VP Brent Erickson.