[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
[March 9, 2007]
[Pages 262-264]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at Petrobras Transporte S.A. Facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil
March 9, 2007
Bom dia. Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. President. It's good to be back in your beautiful
country. Laura and I really have been looking
forward to the trip to Sao Paulo. It's one of the world's great cities.
And I have been looking forward to our conversations. You know, Brazil
and the United States are the two largest democracies in our hemisphere,
and we've got a lot in common, and we've got a lot to do together to
improve the lives of millions in our respective countries and,
hopefully, in neighboring countries as well.
I find it really interesting that much of our talks on this visit
are going to be centered on energy. It's a new kind of energy. I don't
think 20 years ago, an American President or a Brazilian President would
have thought: Let's see; see if we can find common ground on energy
production. And yet, as the President noted, that we had a long discussion in Brasilia about
alternative fuels. And now we're at a plant that's actually
manufacturing alternative fuels on an economic basis that has got the
capacity to change our respective countries in the world. And I, like
the President, am very upbeat about the potential of ethanol and
biodiesel. And that's why we're here.
I do want to thank Sergio Gabrielli, who is the president of Petrobras, for his
hospitality. I appreciate very much your briefing. And I want to thank
all the workers here for greeting us. I want to thank the folks from
Ford and General Motors who are here. It's nice of them to show up to
see the American President. I appreciate your willingness to be
innovative and to meet market demands with products that actually
matter, and in this case, flex-fuel vehicles.
People have wondered why the President of the United States would be
so interested in diversification of our energy supply, and here are the
reasons. One, if you're dependent upon oil from overseas, you have a
national security issue. In other words, dependency upon energy from
somewhere else means that you're dependent upon the decisions from
somewhere else. And so as we diversify away from the use of gasoline by
using ethanol, we're really diversifying away from oil.
Secondly, dependency upon oil creates an economic problem for not
only the United States but anybody else who imports oil. In a globalized
world, if the demand for oil goes up in China or India, it runs up the
price of gasoline in our respective countries. And therefore,
diversification away from oil product is in the economic interests of
our respective countries.
And finally, as the President
noted, it is--we all feel incumbent to be good stewards of the
environment. And it just so happens that ethanol and biodiesel will help
improve the quality of the environment in our respective countries.
And so I'm very much in favor of promoting the technologies that
will enable ethanol and biodiesel to remain competitive and, therefore,
affordable to the people in our respective countries and around our
neighborhoods.
One of the things I like, as the President noted, is that a good ethanol policy and good
alternative fuel policy actually leads to more jobs, not less. In other
words, at this plant, there are jobs. But as the President noted, when
you're growing your way out of dependence on oil, you're dependent upon
people who work the land. And the distribution of wealth, the
distribution of opportunity to farmers, particularly the smaller farmers
in our respective countries, will enable the economy to be more on firm
foundation.
And so, Mr. President, your
vision is absolutely correct. I appreciate so very much
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the fact that here you--much of your energy is driven by sugarcane. It
frankly gives Brazil a tremendous advantage in the world markets.
Sugarcane is by far the most efficient raw material for the production
of ethanol. The President has wisely invested in technologies that will
increase your yields per acre, and that makes a lot of sense. In
America, we've got a little different issue: we don't have a lot of
sugarcane. And so our stock material, our base material for ethanol thus
far, has been corn.
I appreciate very much the innovation that's taking place here in
Brazil. I mean, if you're the leader in ethanol, I believe you'll
continue to come up with technologies that should be available for
others. Your H-BIO process for refining biodiesel from soy and other
agricultural products is such an example. In other words, you'll be able
to use regular refinery as a result of the technological developments
that you've done here. And that makes a lot of sense. And I congratulate
you, Mr. President, and,
Petrobras, for staying on the leading edge of technological change.
A lot of people wonder whether or not it makes sense to develop an
alternative-fuel infrastructure if the automobile doesn't stay up with
it. Well, most people in America don't know that there are millions of
flex-fuel vehicles on our street today; just people don't know it. In
other words, we have now got the capacity to manufacture automobiles in
a way that meets the demands for ethanol. Flex-fuel means you can either
use gasoline or alternative fuels--your choice. And in America, we are--
that technology is available. So my fellow citizens shouldn't fear the
development of an alternative source of energy industry because the
consumer has got the capacity to buy an automobile that will meet those
new productions.
I'm very optimistic that America can benefit from alternative energy
sources, so optimistic that I laid out an ambitious goal for our
country, and that is to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent over
10 years. In other words, we have a mandated fuel standard of 35 billion
gallons of alternative fuels to be used by 2017. That is now seven times
more the amount of alternative fuels we're using. Right now we're using
about 5 billion gallons of ethanol. I believe that the technologies will
be such that America will be consuming 35 billion gallons of alternative
fuels. And that's important for our country. It is a commitment to
becoming less dependent on oil, and it's a commitment to be better
stewards of the environment.
In my budget, Mr. President, I
proposed to Congress that we invest $1.6 billion over 10 years on
additional research to make sure that we can have alternative fuel
stocks to make ethanol. Just so you know, in the last years--so long as
I've been the President--we spent about $12 billion on new technologies
that will enable us to achieve economic independence, as well as be
better stewards of the environment.
There's a lot we can do together. I appreciate so very much the idea
of Brazil and America sharing research and development opportunities.
You've got great scientists; we've got great scientists. It makes sense
for us to collaborate for the good of mankind. And part of our
initiative is that we are going to work together efficiently and to
cooperate on research and development.
I also think the President's
idea of helping others realize the benefits of alternative fuels makes a
lot of sense. And so we applaud the Inter-America Development Bank, its
efforts to try to get loans and capital into countries that could
benefit from alternative sources of energy. I'm particularly anxious to
work with the President on helping Central America become less dependent
on oil, become energy self-sufficient. It's in the interest of the
United States that there be a prosperous neighborhood. And one way to
help spread prosperity in Central America is for them to become energy
producers, not become--
[[Page 264]]
not remain dependent on others for their energy sources.
And finally, the President
mentioned the fact that at the United Nations, there was a International
Biofuels Forum. What he didn't tell you: it was his idea. And I applaud
the fact, Mr. President, that you put that idea out. It makes a lot of
sense for countries like China and India to understand the potentials of
alternative sources of energy. And I believe that Brazil and the United
States has got the capacity to help lead the way toward that better day.
So, Mr. President, it has been
a great first meeting here. I appreciate the fact that you're about to
buy me lunch. I'm kind of hungry. [Laughter] Looking forward to eating
some of that good Brazilian food.
But in the meantime, I hope the citizens of Brazil, like the
citizens of the United States, are as optimistic about the future as
these two Presidents are. And one
reason we're optimistic is because we see the bright and real potential
for our citizens being able to use alternative sources of energy that
will promote the common good.
So, Mr. President, thank you
for having me.
Note: The President spoke at 11:22 a.m. The transcript released by the
Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil. The Office of the Press Secretary
also released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.