Pennsylvania trying to move away from coal to clean energy

Kathleen A. McGinty the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection wrote an article recently on her state's move away from its coal-powered past to cleaner energy sources like solar, wind and biofuels. The state has a law that requires 18 percent of all its energy to come from "clean, efficient, and advanced resources" by 2020. That sounds sensible. But the state's goals for alternative transportation fuels are a little less clear. First, McGinty writes that in the next decade, Pennsylvania plans to introduce 3.4 billion liters of locally produced alternative fuels (ethanol, biodiesel, and fuel made from coal liquefaction). That's a good idea, but is it common for U.S. government officials to measure things in liters? Or is that just so the number will be larger than if she had used gallons? It gets more confusing when she writes that, "The 3.4 billion liters million gallons represents the forecasted amount of fuels to be imported from the Persian Gulf to Pennsylvania 10 years from now." I'm sure the state is working hard on getting biofuels into state fuel supply, but how much exactly they're dealing with is apparently a bit of a mystery to McGinty.

[Source: U.S. State Department]