South Dakota Senator John Thune gathering signatures in support of Renewable Fuel Standard

In Washington, Senator John Thune (R-SD) was circulating a letter amongst US Senators to gather signatures in support of the Renewable Fuel Standard. 24 Senators, led by presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, sent a letter to the EPA this week requesting a waiver of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Meanwhile, EPA deputy assistant administrator Robert Meyers told a House hearing that the EPA response would take up to three months, citing the regulatory process. The ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, said he would introduce a bill to return to the 2005 ethanol mandate.

24 Senate Republicans asked the EPA to waive, or restructure, the Renewable Fuel Standard passed in December. In a statement, Sen. John McCain said that “This subsidized (ethanol) program — paid for by taxpayer dollars — has contributed to pain at the cash register, at the dining room table, and a devastating food crisis throughout the world.” The Senators said that waiving the ethanol mandate would encourage farmers to grow other crops, as opposed to growing corn for food markets.

The Republican Party began to break ranks with President Bush over ethanol, when Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson said she will introduce legislation to freeze the biofuel mandate passed in the Energy Independence and Security Act last December.

Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma said “People are starving to death because of this transfer from food to fuel,” Inhofe said. “As the ranking member of the EPW committee, which has jurisdiction, I’m going to ask for an immediate waiver to stop this mandate.”

Senator Hutchinson had put a procedural hold on the 2007 Senate Energy Bill in October, arguing that the bill was bad for Texas. The bill eventually was passed without the Renewable Power Standard. Food groups, oil and gas companies and some livestock producers had requested a lower corn ethanol mandate, and have asked that higher mandates increases be tied to technological improvements.

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