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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mimi Ricketts,
NCGA, 636-733-9004
Mark Palmer, NCGA (202) 628-7001
NCGA
Leaders in Washington: Get an Energy Bill Passed Now!
Washington (October
31, 2003) -- While in Washington this week, NCGA President Dee Vaughan
and First Vice President Leon Corzine called upon Congress to get the
energy bill passed. It’s not just about ethanol, said Vaughan.
It’s about energy independence.
The NCGA leaders
delivered messages to key leaders on Capitol Hill including Sen. Chuck
Grassley (R-Iowa); Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.); Sen. Richard Durbin
(D-Ill.); Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.); Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.),
chairman of the House Resource Committee; and Sen. George Voinovich
(R-Ohio). Pombo was chairman of House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s
(R-Ill.) Natural Gas Task Force.
Vaughan said he
was encouraged by those meetings. “The people we talked to want
an energy bill,” he noted. “They realize getting a comprehensive
energy bill that includes a renewable fuels standard along with the
Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) is sound public policy
that is reasonable for our nation to become less dependent on foreign
oil. That is the bottom line.”
However, he expressed
concern that the Energy Bill Conference Committee has not completed
its work. “What has happened to the message that resonated so
well earlier in the year when we were talking about new energy supplies?”
Vaughan asked. “What has happened to doing the right thing for
America?”
“There are
different groups that can make the U.S. less reliant on foreign oil,
and corn growers through ethanol production can make that happen,”
Vaughan said. “We shouldn’t look to the Middle East for
energy when its right here in the Middle West.”
He explained, in
addition to ethanol, the energy bill includes provisions for energy
sources such as natural gas, wind power and coal. “All these energy
sources are important to producers and U.S. economy because they take
steps toward energy independence,” Vaughan concluded. “Congress
needs to finish the job they began. It’s that simple.”
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The National Corn
Growers Association mission is to create and increase opportunities
for corn growers in a changing world and to enhance corn’s profitability
and usage. NCGA represents more than 33,000 members, 25 affiliated state
corn grower organizations and hundreds of thousands of growers who contribute
to state checkoff programs.
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