ST. LOUIS (AP)–As a chief advocate for corn farmers around the U.S., Rob Litterer will be working the halls of Congress this fall to push for increased ethanol production. But he’s facing stiff opposition from what on the surface seems an unlikely source - the farm lobby.
The burgeoning ethanol industry is creating a wave of prosperity for rural towns throughout the Midwest, but the energy bonanza is also pitting farming groups on separate sides of the fence.
Corn farmers are pushing…
Commentary
Timothy P. Carney: Big Ethanol wins big on CAFE
The Examiner
2007-06-29
WASHINGTON -
While U.S. automakers have attracted media attention this summer with their furious campaign to block stricter federal requirements on fuel efficiency, the businesses that stand to gain from heightened federal regulation have stayed below the radar.
Primarily, the ethanol industry - already profiting from a smorgasbord of federal and state subsidies and mandates - will likely find riches in the more stringent Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards being adopted in…
Reuters (May 21, 2007) reports that the House Agriculture Committee is considering a bioenergy package that would authorize a total of $4.5 billion for biomass research and loan guarantees to biofacilities through fiscal 2012. The package proposes $2 billion in loans and guarantees to construct at least 14 ethanol plants.
These are big facilities. According to the article, the package would “allow $1 billion for projects costing up to $100 million each and $1 billion for projects costing $100 million to $250…
Bush biofuel initiative may be unrealistic, producers say
By John Gregerson on 5/21/2007 for Meatingplace.com
Leading producers of ethanol and biodiesel said Friday their industries are facing serious barriers to meeting the 2017 growth targets outlined last week by President Bush, Dow Jones reported.
The Bush plan includes a goal to produce 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuel by 2017, many times above current levels.
“The current solutions won’t get you there,” Jeff Trucksess, executive vice president of Green Earth Fuels…
US House Committee oks Bill to Promote Biofuels
Story by Tom Doggett, Reuters News Service, February 1, 2007
WASHINGTON - The House Science and Technology Committee approved legislation on Wednesday to promote the development of alternative biofuels and create the infrastructure to handle the supplies.
I post this article, despite its breathless credulity about the imminence of a world beyond petroleum, because it reveals how Washington works. Bush and the corn lobby will ask Congress for a biofuels mandate that drives up the cost of gasoline. Congress and the Big Three will ask Bush for tax credits to sell more cars that use the more costly fuel.
The soon-to-be Chairman of the Senate Agriculture and the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture agree that energy policy and ethanol are the “engine” - but they can’t agree whether it is pulling the farm bill or pushing the farm bill.
Silly semantics? Maybe.
Probably, however, a more profound metaphor for how out of hand ethanol policy has gotten. It is the “tail” that is “wagging the dog,” if you’ll excuse another metaphor, …
From the wires: Incoming Senate Agriculture Chairman Harkin and…
A written statement presented to the House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, and Nutrition includes this line:
…we are concerned that in the rush to produce biofuels crops, we may inadvertently sacrifice many of the natural resource conservation victories achieved over the past two decades.
Who is “we?”
”We” is the following coalition, … AMERICAN SPORTFISHING ASSOCIATION, ASSOCIATION OF FISH & WILDLIFE AGENCIES, BASS/ESPN OUTDOORS, BEAR TRUST, BERKLEY CONSERVATION INSTITUTE, CAMPFIRE CLUB OF AMERICA, DUCKS UNLIMITED, IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE OF AMERICA, NATIONAL WILD TURKEY FEDERATION,…
Ron Knutson, Professor Emeritus, Texas A&M University, formerly a director of the Food and Agriculture Policy Center at Texas A&M, and formerly an administrator at USDA, is a widely respected agricultural economist. Here is what he told the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Commodities and Risk Management in testimony last week:
I am concerned that excess investment in bioenergy could adversely affect our feed costs for poultry and hog producers, which would strengthen their case for demanding program benefits. It could…
If the real aim of mandating ethanol is to relieve consumers’ pain at the pump, why is Congress keeping the cheapest ethanol out of U.S. markets? Two Senators call for eliminating the tariff that restricts imports of less expensive Brazilian ethanol.
