PHILADELPHIA – Near record-high oil and gasoline prices over the past holiday weekend — as well as growing demand — emphasize the need to produce homegrown, alternative fuels in Pennsylvania said Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty.
Unless the commonwealth moves to domestic alternatives, as Governor Edward G. Rendell has called for in his Energy Independence Strategy, she said consumers and businesses will continue to struggle with higher costs.
“It was estimated last week that more than 31 million Americans traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday, driving at least 50 miles. With gas above $3 a gallon, the cost of driving all those miles adds up,” said McGinty during a keynote speech at the BBI Biofuels Workshop & Trade Show.
In Pennsylvania, the cost of a gallon of gasoline averaged $3.11 on Nov. 21—the busiest travel day of the year—which was up nearly 40 percent from a year ago. The financial pains of higher oil prices go beyond the transportation sector though, she said.
“Heating costs are going to be higher this year than last year,” said the secretary. “It’s been estimated that prices for home heating oil are expected to jump 22 percent, propane will be 16 percent higher, and there will be a 10 percent increase for natural gas. These increases are going to stretch the budgets of our working families and businesses, which drives home the reason we need Governor Rendell’s Energy Independence Strategy.”
The Governor’s PennSecurity Fuels Initiative, part of his Energy Independence Strategy, is now before a special session of the legislature. The plan calls Pennsylvania to produce and consume nearly 1 billion gallons of homegrown, renewable transportation fuels annually, including ethanol, biodiesel and coal-derived fuels—a target amount that will equal the amount of fuel Pennsylvania is expected to import from the Persian Gulf region by 2017.
It also paves the way for new investments that will support the construction and expansion of new alternative fuel production facilities, while also benefiting Pennsylvania’s farmers, creating new jobs, and substantially enhancing the commonwealth’s energy security. Producing biofuels at home also means the state will be able to inject more of the nearly $30 billion Pennsylvania consumers spend each year on liquid fuels produced abroad into the state’s economy.
“Investing our energy dollars at home, rather than sending them abroad, makes sense economically and in terms of our national security,” said McGinty. “The United States now imports 60 percent of its oil and our nation assumes nearly $1 billion in new debt each day to finance those purchases.
“As India, China and other developing nations grow, the demand for oil will increase dramatically. There should be a sense of urgency though because supplies have not kept pace. Unless the oil-rich nations can locate new oilfields to meet demand, oil prices will continue to climb, making it more difficult for our families to make ends meet and for our businesses to compete.
“For the sake of our national security, economic well-being, and American way of life, we must move forward aggressively to spur the production of biofuels here at home, rather than continuing to rely on foreign oil.”