HoevenChildressWASHINGTON   (CSi)– At a hearing of the Senate Agriculture Committee today, Senator John Hoeven pressed the importance of advancing biofuel use across the country using market-based solutions, specifically by increasing the number of blender pumps available at gas stations. Hoeven was joined by Richard Childress, a former NASCAR driver, who testified about the need to increase the number of blender pumps available to the public. 

Click to watch the exchange between Hoeven and Childress.

“We have got to get more blender pumps at our gas stations,” Hoeven said. “They will help to provide consumers with more domestic supply, more choice and lower prices at the pump.”

Childress, the current team owner of Richard Childress Racing, testified that blender pumps will make ethanol more economical, while also decreasing U.S. dependence on foreign oil. 

As governor, Hoeven supported a new incentive program that increased the number of biofuel blender pumps across North Dakota, doubling renewable fuel use in the first year. North Dakota has more blender pumps than any other state in the nation.