MADISON-A local lawmaker wants to give Wisconsin residents another reason to buy into the ethanol boom.
Rep. Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, and two other legislators introduced a bill Monday that would offer a tax credit of up to $1,000 to anyone who buys or leases a flex-fuel vehicle capable of running on regular gasoline or a mixture of ethanol and gasoline.
"By offering consumers motivation to purchase a flex-fuel vehicle, we can help increase the demand for ethanol," Sheridan said in a news release.
Ethanol advocates say the fuel, an alcohol distilled from corn mash, reduces the nation's dependence on imported oil and cuts greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. Opponents argue that ethanol is less fuel-efficient and drives up the prices of corn and livestock.
Flex-fuel vehicles can run on E85, a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, or regular unleaded gas.
"Renewable energies like ethanol hold the promise of environmentally sustainable energy independence," Sheridan said in the statement U.S. ethanol production has spiked over the last five years, from 1.7 billion gallons in January 2001 to 4.8 billion gallons in June 2006, according to a report from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.
The boom has strong ties to southern Wisconsin:
? Badger State Ethanol has operated in Monroe since 2002.
? A $60 million United Ethanol plant is set to open in Milton this month.
? Renew Energy broke ground on a plant in Jefferson County last fall.
? Global Renewable has proposed building one of the largest ethanol plants in the state in the village of Sharon.
Meanwhile, about half of the 400,000 flex-fuel vehicles built by General Motors last year came from the Janesville plant.
Currently, 68 pumps across Wisconsin offer E85, including the Janesville Kwik Trip at 3359 Milton Ave., according to the Wisconsin Ethanol Coalition. The group posts a list of E85 pump locations on its Web site, www.wisconsinethanol.com.
Josh Morby, a spokesman for the coalition, said new Wisconsin plants surely would meet increasing consumer demands for ethanol.
"What we really need to do locally … is work to create markets for people to use biodiesel," he said.
The coalition has been working with legislators of both parties to help get the bill passed, he said.
"This type of legislation has wide bipartisan support," he said.
The bill now goes before the Assembly Committee on Biofuels and Sustainable Energy for a public hearing. Sheridan introduced a similar bill in 2005 that failed to gain the necessary votes.
The representative could not be reached for further comment Friday or Saturday.
