Ethanol is reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil

A new report from the United States Energy Information Agency shows that imported oil has been reduced from over 60% of the United States fuel supply in 2005 to less than 50% in 2010. Causes for the decrease can be attributed to the sluggish economy, higher efficiency vehicles and domestic biofuel production.

Manufacturing plants producing biofuels like ethanol have grown throughout the Midwest during the past decade and production has more than tripled in the last five years pumping 779,000 barrels of clean-burning ethanol into consumers’ gas tanks daily which is up from 230,000 barrels per day in 2005. This increased production and usage is due in part to our farmers increased corn yields, manufacturing efficiency improvements and an increase in blender pumps spurred by the ethanol industry.

“Reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil has always been a driver behind America’s ethanol production and it’s rewarding to see how far we have come in such a short amount of time,” said South Dakota Corn Utilization Council President, Chad Blindauer, a farmer and rancher from Mitchell, South Dakota. “Creating additional blender pump infrastructure, producing more flex-fuel vehicles and an Open Fuel Standard will be necessary in continuing our progress towards energy independence.”