Eastern Iowa congressmen steamed at possibility of lower ethanol standard

Eastern Iowa congressmen are fighting back against what they see as a double-barreled attack on Iowa's liquid gold: biofuels.

An “angered and frustrated” 1

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District Rep. Bruce Braley has called for President Obama to come to Iowa to meet with Iowans before the Environmental Protection Agency does “an about-face” from the administration's previous commitment to renewable energy.

Second District Rep. Dave Loebsack called leaked reports that the EPA would reduce the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) by lowering the amount of ethanol refineries blend into gasoline by 5.7 percent and holding flat the biodiesel number a “slap in the face” to Iowa's economy.

If the leaked numbers are correct, the Iowa City Democrat said, “They could have a devastating impact on our rural economy and the tens of thousands of jobs in Iowa alone that support the renewable fuels industry.”

According to the Iowa Biodiesel Board, the industry, which accounts for 17 percent of the biodiesel production in the country, supports nearly 5,000 jobs, contributes $391 million to the state's gross domestic product and contributes $237 million to Iowa household incomes. Nationally, biodiesel supports 62,200 jobs with a payroll of $2.6 billion and total economic impact of nearly $16.8 billion. At least 8,000 jobs would be threatened if the EPA limits biodiesel production to the current 1.28 billion gallons a year.

Then to add insult to injury, an Associated Press news report earlier this week suggested the federal push for corn-based ethanol has hurt the environment. According to the story, marginal land put into production to meet the growing demand for corn has caused damage to Iowa's waterways and reduced wildlife habitat.

Braley, a Waterloo Democrat who is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate, said Americans can have both sound environmental policies and access to biofuels that reduce fuel prices while lessening the impact of damaging greenhouse gases on the environment.

“As strong supporter of conservation practices, we need to promote policies that reduce runoff, encourage buffer strips and sustain wildlife,” he told reporters. “It's also to have this conservation driven by facts, not by the political agenda of Big Oil.”

Braley was so upset with the report that he teamed with 4

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District Republican Rep. Steve King to host a Nov. 12 Capitol Hill briefing by an Iowa State University economist Bruce Babcock and a scientist from the Union of Concerned Scientists' Clean Vehicles Program “to set the record straight.”

“Critics of renewable fuels led by Big Oil have done everything they can to vilify homegrown energy in Iowa and cast doubt on biofuels in an effort to rollback the RFS,” he said. “They couldn't be more wrong.”

In addition to the economic boon to Iowa farmers, King said ethanol improve competition in the petroleum industry. If the oil industry locks out ethanol and biodiesel, he said, gas prices would rise significantly and corn prices would fall significantly.

The eight-year-old RFS was intended to help America reduce its dependence on foreign fuel, Loebsack said.

“We should be pushing to make fuels here at home, and the RFS is a key component of that,” he said.

Beyond the harm to the rural economy from reducing the RFS and the use of biofuels, the congressmen argue that it would cause greater harm to the environment.

“Any reduction in domestically made renewable fuel can only immediately be replaced by using more global oil,” Loebsack said. “This would reverse the progress we've made, ignore the benefits we have seen, and only increase our dependence on oil.”

Increased use of biofuels is a win-win for Iowa and the rest of the nation, Braley said.

“We reduce our nation's dependence on Middle Eastern sources of oil and lower prices at the pumps by creating jobs and economic innovation in the Midwest that boosts our agriculture and economy,” he said.

“One of the things that we have to continually evaluate is what the environmental impact is of all those fuel sources,” Braley said. “One of the things we know is that the production of biofuels typically requires less in the way of greenhouse gas emissions compared to gasoline. We need to educate consumers about those trade-offs.

“That's why higher blends of ethanol, which would put more biofuels into the blend of fuel offered at the pump, would have a positive impact on greenhouse gas emissions according to many independent studies.”

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, who has championed biofuel development, recently cautioned against over-reacting to the possibility of lower RFS. The biofuels industry, the former Democratic governor of Iowa said, must find new markets and expand existing markets. Given changes in driving habits, relying on selling more of current ethanol products at the pumps may not be the best strategy. Motorists need access to E15, E30 and E85, gasoline blends containing larger amounts of ethanol.

He did agree with Iowa congressmen that the AP investigation contained “errors” and was inaccurate and misleading.