NCGA
Hails Historic Energy Bill Signing (8-8-05)
National Corn
Growers Association (NCGA) President Leon Corzine said today’s
historic signing of a national energy policy that includes domestic
renewable fuels provisions signifies a huge win for the nation’s
future and the future of corn growers.
“It is a very exciting
to be here today, and I am honored to be representing the nation’s
corn growers,” said Corzine. “We are witnessing a historic
event with the signing of an energy bill with a renewable fuels
standard (RFS) that is vitally important for those of us on the
farm, as well as our nation as a whole. This is our future.”
President George W. Bush
signed the national energy bill, the Energy Policy Act of 2005,
today at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories,
near Albuquerque, N.M.
Corzine said the bill
was made possible by the huge efforts of NCGA’s grassroots
and state corn and national corn organizations, as well as working
hand in hand with Congress and the administration. “Our entire
organization, from the grassroots through the states to the national
association, put all their resources, as well as their heart and
soul, into the effort to secure an energy bill that includes an
RFS. It is truly a win for our future,” he said.
Corzine reflected on
a visit he had with President Bush during his 2004 campaign stop
in Iowa at the Farm Progress Show. “I remember when I talked
with the president, he said, ‘We are going to get you that
energy bill.’ A little less than a year later, the president
has certainly followed through with that promise,” he said.
The energy bill contains
a 7.5-billion-gallon RFS calling for 4 billion gallons of ethanol
to be blended into the nation’s fuel supply in 2006, increasing
to 7.5 billion gallons by 2012.