[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 10 (Monday, March 12, 2007)]
[Pages 287-289]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Petrobras Transporte S.A. Facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil

March 9, 2007

    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

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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 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.

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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, it's 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--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.