Ethanol Blog

Rally Opposes EPA Ethanol Proposal

Cheryl Anderson
By  Cheryl Anderson , DTN Staff Reporter

An ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa,hosted a rally Friday to oppose the Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to lower the Renewable Fuel Standard, according to an article in The Cedar Rapids Gazette (http://bit.ly/…).

The rally was attended by many of the state's top Republicans who oppose the proposal to lower the ethanol mandate by a billion gallons for 2014.

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Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds stood in front of a growing pile of dried distillers grains and joined with other state politicians in berating the proposal, claiming that ethanol has created many jobs and boosted rural economies and that lowering the mandate would hurt farmers, communities and the state.

Politicians from other states also oppose the measure and are urging their constituents to send comments to EPA during the two-month public comment period.

Some in the petroleum and meat producer industries welcome the measure, but said they would rather see the RFS entirely revoked. Some livestock farmers support cuts to federal support for ethanol, claiming it pushes corn and meat prices up, as well as lowering their profit margins.

Lowering the RFS and cutting ethanol production would also result in lower DDG production. With demand and utilization of DDG thriving, especially export demand, decreased supplies would likely push DDG prices up. Higher DDG prices would not only force livestock producers to look to other feedstuffs, but would hurt ethanol plant profits as the sale of DDG is a vital revenue stream.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@telventdtn.com.

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