 |
| In
written testimony, NCGA urged the House Subcommittee on Energy
and Air Quality to take action on a comprehensive energy bill
including the Renewable Fuels Standard. |
NCGA
Again Urges Congress to Tackle Energy Legislation with RFS (2-18-05)
The National
Corn Growers Association (NCGA) renewed its call for passage of
a comprehensive energy bill that includes a Renewable Fuels Standard
(RFS) this week in written testimony submitted to the House Subcommittee
on Energy and Air Quality.
NCGA’s
testimony noted that creating the RFS, in which a small percentage
of the nation’s transportation fuel supply is provided by
renewable fuels such as ethanol, provides a positive roadmap for
reducing consumer fuel prices, increasing our nation’s energy
security and stimulating rural economies.
“President
Bush, in his State of the Union Address said it well: four years
is long enough. We agree it is time for Congress to act. Without
sound energy policy, we are continuing to risk economic viability,”
said NCGA Chairman Dee Vaughan, who noted one of NCGA’s key
legislative priorities for the past four years has been to secure
an RFS in a comprehensive energy bill.
NCGA once more
called on Congress to include the RFS as part of this year’s
comprehensive energy legislation. “As Congress considers a
national energy policy -- for the fourth year in a row -- it only
makes sense that a renewable fuels provision would be a part of
that policy since transportation fuels represent the greatest demand
for foreign oil in the U.S. Renewable fuels can and should play
a larger role in meeting our nation’s energy needs,”
noted the testimony.
NCGA policy
supports an RFS requiring a minimum of 5 billion gallons of renewable
fuels be blended into the nation’s fuel supply annually. However,
NCGA President Leon Corzine noted that the nation’s corn growers
firmly believe there are many reasons for Congress to move beyond
the 5-billion-gallon level, pointing to the fact that the U.S. ethanol
industry is already producing more than 3.4 billion gallons per
year.
“Our record
production levels over the past four years serve as proof that ethanol
is a sustainable fuel alternative,” he said. “We had
a 21 percent increase in production from 2003 and a 109 percent
increase since 2000. It is also important to know that ethanol made
from corn reduces petroleum fuel used by 98,000 barrels per days,
provides thousands of jobs and has become a $10 billion per-year
industry.”
NCGA continues
to encourage its grassroots members to contact their elected officials
and emphasize the importance of energy legislation.
“There
is no question that we will push as hard as we can to make sure
the energy bill includes an RFS,” Vaughan said. “We’ll
push to increase the gallon number and make sure the schedule is
more appropriately balanced with the industry’s current production
capacity.”
House Energy
and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) has indicated
his plans to take an energy bill to the House floor soon. Pundits
believe he will begin with a bill similar to H.R. 6, the conference
report passed twice by the House in the 108th Congress. The House
version of an energy bill is likely to include authorization to
develop energy resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
(ANWR); an RFS; additional provisions for natural gas; and an MTBE
liability waiver, according to media reports. Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M) is expected
to start moving an energy bill in his committee in April.
Meanwhile, the
Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee has been bogged
down with deliberations on “Clear Skies” legislation.
The EPW Committee plans to work on the highway reauthorization bill
when it completes work on Clear Skies legislation. Then the committee
is expected to move on a fuels bill containing an RFS, insiders
say.
Several bills
on the RFS are being developed in both the Senate and the House.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the EPW Committee and one
of the Senate’s leading RFS advocates, recently discussed
RFS legislation with the NCGA Corn Board. He is expected to play
a key role in moving the legislation out of the EPW Committee and
onto the Senate floor, noted the NCGA Corn Board.
During the conference
call, the senator and Corn Board discussed the need to move a bill
and to increase the level of the RFS. “Sen. Thune and the
Corn Board understand this is the first step in a legislative process
that will provide opportunities at other junctures to push for an
increase to the number of gallons and to advance the schedule,”
said Corzine.
To view the
entire written testimony, please click here.