The Senate yesterday voted 85-12 to pass energy legislation that could dramatically expand production of ethanol made not only from grain but also from agricultural wastes such as corn or wheat straw with the help of new biotechnology enzymes.

The legislation would require US fuel suppliers to blend 8 billion gallons (36.4 billion litres) of ethanol annually into the domestic fuel supply by 2012.

The Senate also adopted major portions of a bill recently introduced by senators Tom Harkin (Democrat) and Richard Lugar (Republican) that adds even more support for biofuels and bio-based products.

The amendment creates greater incentives for bioethanol and bio-based plastics production from crop biomass and provides funding for research and development of new biotech enzymes.

Specifically, it would establish a reverse auction for the production of the first one billion gallons of ethanol made from cellulose-containing crop wastes instead of grain, and an explicit extension of the federal bio-based purchasing preference to cover federal government contractors.

Energy legislation that passed the House of Representatives earlier this year did not include these provisions, although it, too, supported renewable energy with a renewable fuels standard. A House-Senate leadership conference will draft a final version of the Bill to be voted on by both chambers.

BIO executive vice-president for industrial and environmental biotechnology Brent Erickson said the organisation would work closely with allies in the environmental and agricultural communities to ensure the strongest possible bioenergy provisions were in the final Bill.

"These measures are a big step toward enhancing our national security by providing incentives for energy from tilling, not drilling," Erickson said.

"Recent breakthroughs in biotechnology are going to allow us to produce more ethanol right here at home than we ever thought possible.

"We could be producing up to 25% of our transportation fuel needs by combining biotechnology and agriculture to produce bioethanol in the not-too-distant future, and this energy bill will be a big stimulus to help us meet that goal."