General Wesley Clark on Fox News
May 6, 2009

General Clark discusses California's newly adopted low-carbon fuel standard.

Wesley Clark: State's energy future is biofuels

Wesley K. Clark | April 20, 2009 | Orlando Sentinel

It's precisely during times of crisis that the best of America emerges. I have found, through my travels all over the globe, that it is the resiliency of the American people during hard times that is our defining characteristic. As we face the challenges of high unemployment, a warming climate and unstable regimes on whom we depend for oil, I believe we can meet these challenges by remaining undaunted in the face of adversity and applying American ingenuity to find solutions.

Last month, a group I'm part of, Growth Energy, proposed one such solution by submitting a green jobs waiver to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which would increase the blend of ethanol in our fuel supply up to 15 percent — creating jobs, boosting our energy independence and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Right now, ethanol is capped at 10 percent of the fuel supply.

When the Florida Legislature passed the comprehensive energy bill unanimously last year requiring 10 percent of Florida's fuel to come from ethanol, it unleashed the imagination of Florida's entrepreneurs. Companies have proposed making ethanol from everything from sugar cane, switchgrass, sorghum and even orange peels that would, otherwise, be wasted.