By Alex Benzegala
Panhandle Post
Earlier this week, Senator Pete Ricketts talked to an audience of business and community leaders in Alliance and Box Butte County. Panhandle Post sat down with the former Nebraska Governor, and one of the topics he discussed was renewable fuels and battling President Joe Biden on the issue.
"We all want to reduce our impact on the environment, but what we should allow is American industry to innovate and find ways to do that," Ricketts said. "Rather, the Biden Administration just wants to jam a one size fits all answer on us."
Ricketts has been outspoken against electric vehicles, saying it is not practical in rural areas of the country, like Western Nebraska. Biofuels, renewable diesel and bio diesel is what Ricketts would like to see implemented, and he says that by starting with the railroads, the country can begin to start reducing carbon output.
In July, Ricketts sponsored the Flex Fuel Fairness Act along with Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota to give Flex Fuel vehicles the same credit relative to electric vehicles. According to Ricketts, it also level the playing field for vehicles running on low-carbon liquid fuels like ethanol.