-STODDARD, Wis. -- May 31 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Reid Magney La Crosse Tribune, Wis.

America needs to invest more in biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind said Tuesday.

The La Crosse Democrat called for major federal funding to develop alternative fuels, akin to efforts to reach the moon in the 1960s.

"We can do this as a country by coming together," said Kind, who also criticized President Bush and the GOP Congress' energy policy. "I'd rather see investment here in the Midwest than in the Middle East."

Kind released Democratic Congressional estimates that higher fuel prices are costing La Crosse-area families an extra $1,290 a year.

Kind said Wisconsin's universities could become a new "Silicon Valley" for biofuels research.

David Hogg, dean of the University of Wisconsin's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in Madison, said they have "outstanding plant scientists who understand plant genomics, microbiologists who are working already on microbes" to turn biomass into fuel and economists and marketing people to help bring the technology to consumers.

"If you make funding available, it's amazing what can be done," Hogg said.

Will Beitlich, on whose farm Kind held Tuesday's news conference, said low commodity prices and rising fuel costs are making it difficult for farmers to make a living.

"Bio-based fuels give us that alternative," Beitlich said.

Paul R. Nelson of Woodville, Wis., Kind's Republican opponent, said he also supports encouraging bioenergy but called it just one leg of a three-legged stool.

America also needs to increase domestic oil production, including increased refining capacity, and "embrace the new generation of safe, efficient nuclear power plants," Nelson said.

Kind said he supports two bills:

--New Apollo Energy Act of 2006, which would create domestic tax incentives to develop and manufacture clean energy technologies, invest in efficient infrastructure and create more regulatory oversight.

--Bioenergy Innovation, Optional Fuel Utilization and Energy Legacy Act of 2006, which would raise the renewable fuels mandate, require automakers increase the percentage of flex-fuel vehicles, increase investment in biofuels research and provide federal incentives to help locally owned biofuel facilities compete with large oil companies.