Sioux Falls, SD (August 2, 2012) – The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) strongly disagrees with some Members of Congress who today are calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
“Ethanol costs less than gasoline. The bottom line is that any Member of Congress urging EPA to reduce the RFS also supports forcing consumers to pay more at the pump. Thankfully, EPA comprehends this fact and knows that reversing the RFS would not demonstrably reduce feed or food prices,” said Brian Jennings, ACE Executive Vice President.
Recent analysis by Bruce Babcock, an economist at Iowa State University, confirms that a waiver of the RFS will not result in additional or cheaper feed for livestock.
“Efforts to block the RFS, whether by the meat industry who wants cheap corn or Members of Congress who never supported the RFS in the first place, are misdirected,” Jennings said. “If ethanol producers didn’t create a market for low value corn starch, there would be less corn available for all sectors and livestock producers wouldn’t have access to large quantities of distillers grains, the high value, high protein feed resulting from ethanol production.”
ACE has recently published a factsheet looking at the RFS and drought conditions