(Radio Iowa) – The trillion-dollar infrastructure bill that passed the U-S Senate this week contained nothing for biofuels but did include more than seven-billion dollars in funding for a charger network for electric vehicles, or E-Vs. Cassidy Walter, spokeswoman for the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, says the Senate missed a tremendous carbon reduction opportunity. Walter says, “If our country is trying to reduce carbon emissions by having a singular focus on EVs, we’re really setting aside the huge impact that biofuels are prepared to make.”

The biofuels industry is already making great leaps, Walter says, toward being more planet-friendly. “Today, they’re reducing carbon emissions by roughly 50% or more already and they’re on a path to be carbon negative in the next decade,” Walter says. “It’s a missed opportunity that’s actually worse for our environment, it’s no good for the Midwestern economy and it hurts farmers.” The bill has headed to the U-S House where Walter says her organization will be lobbying members of Iowa’s congressional delegation to include biofuels.  “There is a lot of room for biofuels to grow when it comes to infrastructure,” Walter says. “We have a long way to go in terms of increasing consumer access to higher biofuel blends like E-15, E-85 and B-20.”

Walter says it’s critical Congress embrace multiple solutions to the nation’s environmental challenges instead of following a one-size-fits-all approach as the Senate did.