Governor Gregoire addresses the sixth annual biodiesel forum

May 4, 2008

*As Written*

Good Morning, and thank you Aaron for the kind introduction.

I�m pleased to be here today. It�s great to be with a group of people as determined as I am to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

I don�t have to tell anybody in this room about the high costs of our failed federal energy policies.

What a travesty! And what a tragedy for all the hard-working people trying to make a living to support their families.

More than $30 million a day in wealth leaving our state and into the pockets of oil producers and traders -- leaving behind only more pollution and greenhouse gases to change our climate�

�While the price of a gallon of gas heads toward $4.

I know recent weeks have been tough on all of you.

Some appear to be scapegoating biofuels as the big reason for higher food costs.

We all know the truth. While this is certainly a factor, it�s a small part of the story � And one of the main culprits?

You guessed it � high fuel costs to produce and deliver food to the supermarkets.

And the fact is, the rest of the world now wants our commodities as much as we do. Right now, our growers are the big winners after some hard years, and I don�t begrudge them that.

But cheer up. You�re clean-energy pioneers � all of you -- and you have to expect to hit some rough patches along the way.

I hope you can accept as I do that the trail you�re blazing is maybe a little rockier and steeper than we foresaw in 2005, when I put in place a renewable fuel standard and a loan program to kick start a Washington alternative fuels industry.

You and I saw biofuels as a promising economic opportunity and affordable home grown energy.

We still do! But we have more work to do to realize that promise.

I met with Governor Pawlenty from Minnesota in March, and he comes from an ethanol state. He noted, and I agree, that we can�t get to the next generation of alternative fuels until we go through the one we�re in now.

We will look back at this period as a time of transition, and obviously, sooner is better.

It�s time to make that leap.

That's why I've supported alternative-fuels research and development at Washington State University and the UW.

That�s why I was very pleased that Weyerhaeuser and Chevron teamed up a few months ago in an effort to develop cellulosic ethanol -- ethanol made from what we currently throw away -- garbage, wood waste, agricultural wastes, etc.

We are in a position to one day lead the world in non-food feed stock, creating thousands of new, green-collar jobs and revitalizing the forest products and agricultural industries.

We will be among the first to develop ways to get energy from organic waste � be it agricultural waste, timber scraps, or rotational crops.

I know of two little companies in our state right now who are working on using algae as a biofuel � Bionavitas (Bi-ON-Ah-VEE-Tas) in Redmond, and Blue Marble Energy in Seattle.

There is no shortage of algae, and in fact, our waste-water treatment plants are an excellent source since the treatment plants now have to suppress it.

You are the pioneers, and I know nothing escapes your imaginations when it comes to potential bio-energy � (even growing low-maintenance bio-fuels feed stocks on highway medians. Yes, I heard about that one!)

These are not futuristic ideas out of a science-fiction novel.

These ideas are our future � if we�re to have a future -- in a world where the climate is changing and fossil fuels are no longer the answer.

What we�re experiencing in 2008 is just a bump in the road. And there will be more of them. But we need to take the long view. That�s what I�m doing.

Keep up the hard work. It will pay off for all of us, and more importantly, for our children and grandchildren.

Thank You.