EPA should rethink its ethanol stance

The Environmental Protection Agency needs to reassess its stance on ethanol. The EPA is set to change rules that could harm Iowa's families and local economies. I urge the EPA not to cut the Renewable Fuel Standard.

There has been much discussion of gas prices and renewable fuels. The RFS ensures that certain amounts of homegrown, renewable fuel end up in gasoline. This law has made progress in boosting our economy and reducing carbon emissions. The ability of Iowa to produce ethanol to meet this demand is one of the reasons the RFS has been successful.

Big Oil has spent millions lobbying in Washington to eliminate the RFS. The more clean fuel that is made within the U.S. means that less oil is imported from companies with interests overseas. Oil companies claim that gas prices will be raised because of renewable fuels such as ethanol, but this is just another profit-motivated scare tactic. We need to continue to fight for renewable fuels.

The truth is that ethanol, made here in Iowa, is the best chance we have at a clean fuel source. Not only does ethanol produce less pollution than normal gas, but also every cent made off the production goes into our economy. The industry supports more than 55,000 jobs across the state. These are our neighbors. The EPA is choosing Big Oil over these Iowans with its proposed rule of reducing ethanol in the RFS.

State Sen. Bob Dvorsky

Coralville