President Obama giving a speech. Image from REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

(This post originally published on TerraCurve.com)

The Obama administration has announced plans to invest up to $510 million in biofuels to power both military and commercial transportation methods as an effort to boost the country’s economic sustainability as well as national security.

This is fresh off the President’s touted new fuel standard legislation that shook up the auto industry and – more impactfully – anti-regulation members of Congress (can we say “greenest president ever?”)

This new initiative by the White House – a major push to advance the biofuel industry, increase jobs in rural America and strengthen the nation’s energy security (the latter of which is far too dependent on fossil fuels derived from hostile regions like the Middle East) – is calling for the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy to invest roughly half a billion dollars over the next three years.

The investment will be made in partnership with the private sector to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power military and commercial transportation.

“Biofuels are an important part of reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil and creating jobs here at home,” said President Obama. “But supporting biofuels cannot be the role of government alone. That’s why we’re partnering with the private sector to speed development of next-generation biofuels that will help us continue to take steps towards energy independence and strengthen communities across our country.”

A more secure future

The initiative marks another milestone in the President’s Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future – the Administrations framework for reducing dependence on foreign oil – and is being steered by the White House Biofuels Interagency Work Group and Rural Council.

The Council - established two months ago via an Executive Order to build greater cross-agency collaboration to strengthen rural America, ensures federal investments create maximum benefit for rural Americans by coordinating programs across government and public-private sectors that improve economic conditions while creating jobs in rural communities.

The goal: to develop a far more modernized infrastructure in rural communities –  including broadband access to 10 million Americans, expanded educational opportunities for rural students, affordable health care and the promotion and subsequent expansion of renewable energy.

Such unparalleled investments hold the potential to create a thriving and self-sustaining America.

- Joe Ascanio, TerraCurve.com