The following opinion piece was authored by MABA President Chuck Lippstreu in the March 31, 2022 edition of the Detroit News. You can view the original story here. Opinion: Michigan should invest in homegrown biofuels to ease pain at the pump As gas prices hit record highs with little hope of reprieve on the horizon, now is the perfect time to use more affordable biofuels made right here in Michigan. Replacing foreign oil with plant-based biofuels in our cars, trucks and SUVs will grow Michigan’s economy and put more money in the hands of consumers and family farmers. The average U.S. household spent more than $2,000 on gasoline before Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring even higher, spotlighting our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. With the price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Michigan hovering around $4.20 — about 85 cents more than its cost just a month ago — it’s time to take a serious look at homegrown alternatives. One substitute is shifting from standard E10 gasoline to E15, a renewable fuel blend made with 15% homegrown biofuel. E15 is EPA-approved for all cars, trucks and SUVs made since 2001. The other alternative is E85, which is approved for use in all Flex-Fuel vehicles. Both cost drivers less. E15 is already offered at more than 2,300 locations across 30 states. Other Midwest biofuel-producing states like Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin are making the most of E15 and E85. Unfortunately, access to both renewable fuel blends in Michigan lags far behind. Only 10 stations in Michigan offer E15 today. To make this fuel more readily available to all drivers across Michigan, we need to incentivize more gas stations to offer it — a lot more. That’s where Senate Bill 814 comes into play. Introduced by state Sen. Kevin Daley, R-Lum, this common-sense proposal would create a 5-cent-per-gallon tax credit for E15 and a 0.085-cent-per-gallon tax credit for E85. These credits would help provide greater access to less expensive fuels across the state. SB 814 would also complement important efforts underway at the federal level to ensure E15 is available to more American drivers, year-round. If stations across Michigan made a full shift to E15, it would add nearly $530 million in Gross Domestic Product to Michigan’s economy and save millions of dollars in fuel costs, according to an ABF Economics study. That uptick in demand for the agricultural industry would generate $166 million of income for Michigan households and nearly $47 million in state and local tax revenue, the study said. Our nation continues to rely on foreign energy supplies that too often come from nations hostile to the United States. It has to stop — and there’s an alternative that starts with Michigan farmers and businesses. By expanding access to Michigan-made biofuels, we can ease pain at the pump and secure energy security for our nation. SB 814 will help deliver lower-cost E15 and E85 across the state — just when we need it most.
