Thomas Daschle: “I want to state publicly how disappointed I am with a letter recently sent by my friend and colleague, Senator Bill…”

“I want to state publicly how disappointed I am with a letter recently sent by my friend and colleague, Senator Bill Bradley, and a number of others to the Environmental Protection Agency attacking their proposed renewable oxygenate requirement. In attacking the requirement, the letter makes very erroneous assertions about the economic and environmental impacts of promoting renewable energy. As many of my colleagues know, the EPA proposal, issued last December, would require that 30 percent of the oxygenated fuel used to produce reformulated gasoline--which is used to reduce ozone pollution--shall be made from renewable resources. That is, 70 percent of the oxygenates could be nonrenewable. The commitment made by EPA came after a tremendous amount of consideration and discussion of the environmental and economic objectives that could be achieved through our energy policy, as we move forward to create a cleaner environment. There should be no mistake: This is just another in a long series of confrontations between domestically produced renewable fuel and our age-old dependence upon imported fossil fuels.”