WASHINGTON – Fourteen members of the Michigan congressional delegation today urged President Bush to ask the major oil companies to increase the number of stations providing E85, a biofuel blend that is 85 percent ethanol.  Providing consumers access to E85 would help to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and help to meet the demands of the increased number of flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) produced by the domestic auto industry.

            “There is a critical missing piece in our nation’s efforts to reduce our reliance on oil,” the Michigan congress members wrote to President Bush.  “A major barrier to the use of Flexible Fuel Vehicles to reduce oil consumption is the lack of fueling stations that provide E85.”

            Nearly six million flexible fuel vehicles are on the road today that are capable of running on E85, and the domestic auto industry has committed to build more than one million new FFVs annually by 2008.  However, less than one percent of fueling stations around the country offer E85 – only 600 out of the 170,000 U.S. gas stations – which prevents the FFVs from achieving their maximum energy efficiency.

            “Without significant steps to spur development of the necessary E85 infrastructure, all of the efforts to increase the production of ethanol and availability of FFVs will be for naught,” the congress members wrote.

            In his State of the Union address, President Bush stressed the importance of reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, and indicated that ethanol and other renewable fuels can help to reduce oil consumption.  In their letter to the president today, the Michigan congressional delegation members urged that the president’s much discussed meeting with the automotive CEOs offers an opportunity to highlight his commitment to increasing our national use of renewable fuels by seeking a specific target of increased E85 pumps by 2010.

            The letter was signed by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Rep. John Dingell (D-MI15), Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI6), Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI12), Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI5), Rep. Joe Schwarz (R-MI7), Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI13), Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI4), Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI1), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI14), Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI9), Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI10), Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI2), and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI8).