In the Heartland, we all know and understand the valuable benefit that can be provided by ethanol. This alternative fuel, made primarily from corn, replaces barrels of imported oil that tend to be unstable in terms of their price and supply. And unlike oil, corn is a renewable resource that Americans successfully farm year after year.

Drop by drop, ethanol fights our dependency on foreign oil.

Yet, the connection between the cornfield and the car is hard to make. Producing ethanol requires lots of infrastructure – including refinery facilities in Southern Missouri, on which we already have a good start. It also requires points of sale at our local gas stations, both chains and independents. Finally, it requires cars and trucks to run on the ethanol fuel. While any automobile can easily digest a diet of 90 percent petroleum and 10 percent ethanol (E10), some engine modifications are needed to substantially increase the benefit of ethanol and serve an engine a fuel cocktail of 15 percent petroleum and 85 percent ethanol. This latter blend is called E85, and it may well promise a future of energy independence for America.

The time to implement this technology is now, and we must first develop a strong platform of renewable fuels to support nationwide use of ethanol.

Right now, roughly 40 percent of the fuel consumed in Missouri is E10. Utilization of this alternative fuel will be on the rise, too, thanks to a mandate just passed by the state legislature to require that all the fuel we use will be at least 10 percent ethanol by 2008. Once we use some ethanol in all of our cars, the next step is to up the proportion of ethanol in our gas tanks.

In a dilemma similar to the question of whether the chicken came first, or the egg, policymakers are struggling to approach the problem of which should come first, the ethanol-powered vehicle, or the ethanol.