Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Iowa Sen. Grassley, longtime ethanol ally, says he would back anti-ethanol measures House passed

The ethanol industry lost support from one of its strongest allies in Congress Tuesday when Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said he would support a deficit-cutting bill even if it included the anti-ethanol provisions passed by the House. "As significant as it is to me, because I'm a great ethanol fan, if in fact those things were in the bill to cut the deficit ... I'd have to bite the bullet," Grassley told Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register. Earlier this week we reported the House had included provisions in its budget-cut bill that would block the Environmental Protection Agency from approving the E15 blend of ethanol in fuel and block subsidies for service station pumps that can dispense varying amounts of gasoline and ethanol.

The House bill cannot pass the Democratic-controlled Senate, but some compromises will need to be made to avoid a government shutdown. "Iowa's two House Republicans voted for the overall bill though they opposed the ethanol provisions," Brasher writes. Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin was quick to criticize the ethanol measures: "Blocking funding for expanding ethanol use to E15 blends not only does not save any significant funding, it takes us backwards on energy security by making us more dependent on foreign imports."

Grassley said that of the two anti-ethanol provisions included in the House bill, "delaying EPA's work on the issue was a more immediate concern than the subsidies for ethanol pumps," Brasher writes. Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, an ethanol lobby, blamed the inclusion of the anti-ethanol provisions in the House bill on a campaign by ethanol opponents to blame biofuels for higher food prices. "That type of stuff sticks and once it sticks, it's hard to get it out of people's minds," Buis told Brasher. Studies have shown ethanol has some impact on food prices, but relatively little. (Read more)

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