Two of the top-ranking members of the House Agriculture Committee are among the four lead sponsors of a bill to eliminate the federal mandate for corn-based ethanol. All four are from regions where livestock farmers have complained of high feed prices. Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a former chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and third in seniority among Republicans on the panel, said, “It’s clear that the majorly flawed RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard) isn’t working.” California Rep. Jim Costa, the No. 3 Democrat on the committee, said the mandate harmed consumers, livestock producers, foodmakers and retailers.
The RFS Reform Act would end the federal guarantee of a share of the gasoline market for ethanol, limit the ethanol blend rate to 10 percent and require the EPA to set the mandate for second-generation biofuels at current production rates. The Renewable Fuels Association says the bill “is a step backward” for the development of alternative fuels and that it ignores back-to-back record corn crops that have driven down grain prices.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania offered an amendment last month to end the requirement to use corn ethanol.
The EPA is a year late in setting the target for ethanol use in 2014, and has not proposed a 2015 number either. A 2007 law puts corn ethanol’s share of the fuel market at 15 billion gallons annually, beginning with this year. The petroleum industry says the gasoline market is saturated at the traditional blend rate of 10 percent ethanol into gasoline.