Our fuel can be made in the U.S.A.

Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) is right that our fuels need to have a "Made in America"sticker. We must move quickly to encourage the use of ethanol. It is a cleanand renewable fuel and increased use will be great for our nation's farmers as well as reducing the trade deficit.

One interesting thing that I learned recently is that ethanol can be produced not only from corn, but also from sugarcane. According to the New York Times (04/10/06), Brazil which has widespread use of ethanol gets eight times the yield from sugar cane based product that is made in their country than from corn based ethanol. We grow sugar cane already in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Hawaii and sugar beets are grown inMinnesota and Montana. Our government needs to take the lead in promoting the development of sugar cane based ethanol in the United States. All vehicles with engines built after 1970 can use the 10% ethanol, but we need to get more new vehicles on the road that have the capability of using the E-85 ethanol which consists of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.