Republicans Senators Want RFS Waiver
Published May 4, 2008
Support for ethanol took another hit last week when 23 Republican senators, including Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, urged Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson to use his authority to waive the renewable fuels standard set in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 because of its "unintended effects on food prices." The letter to Johnson also asked about the status of regulations for states applying for an ethanol mandate waiver. Both Texas and Connecticut have requested a waiver. The EPA wil have to respond to the request within 90 days.
McCain, a Republican from Arizona, said the ethanol program "has contributed to pain at the cash register, at the dining room table, and a devastating food crisis throughout the world. We need to put an end to flawed government policies that distort the markets, raise food prices artificially, and pit producers against consumers. We must call on the EPA to exercise its authority to not exacerbate this already bad situation," McCain said.
No Midwest senators signed on to the letter. In a statement from Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, he said the "call for EPA to halt the growth in U.S. ethanol use and cut short the promise of biofuels for our nation’s energy security is without merit. Instead, we must get to the heart of the problem by evaluating the root cause of high food prices and expanding the use of alternative feedstocks in ethanol production, such as the investment in production of biofuels from cellulosic materials in the farm bill currently moving through Congress."
Also last week, a diverse group issued an open letter to the Senate Joint Economic Committee before its hearing on rising food prices asking Congress to revisit the mandates. Nineteen groups signed the open letter, including the World Wildlife Fund US, Oxfam America, the American Meat Institute, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Hispanic Institute, Environmental Working Group and Taxpayers for Common Sense.
The letter argues that while many factors impact food prices, the one factor that Congress has the power to control are "Congressional mandates and subsidies to turn food crops into fuel," the groups said.
