Agricultural News
Livestock Producers Support Biofuels Mandate Reform Bill
Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:01:18 CDT
Following an announcement by House lawmakers that they will introduce legislation to address issues with the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) urged Congress to reform the biofuels mandate.
Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Steve Womack (R-Ark.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), at a press conference today said they would introduce the Renewable Fuel Standard Reform Act to "help ease concerns created by the ethanol mandate and protect consumers, energy producers, livestock producers, food manufacturers, retailers and the U.S. economy."
The RFS last year required 13.2 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol to be blended into gasoline; it mandates that 13.9 billion gallons be blended in 2013, an amount that will use about 4.9 billion bushels of corn, or about 40 percent of the nation's crop.
NCBA and NPPC last fall called on lawmakers to make changes to the RFS, following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) refusal to use the safety valve built into it to waive the biofuels mandate in the wake of a severe drought that drastically cut the corn crop.
"Cattlemen and women are self-reliant, but in order to maintain that we cannot be asked to compete with federal mandates like the Renewable Fuels Standard for the limited supply of feed grains," said NCBA Policy Vice Chair Craig Uden, an Elwood, Neb., cattle feeder. "In light of the worst drought to hit our country in over 50 years and the ever increasing renewable mandates, we are seeing many of our members not only failing to profit, but taking a loss."
"It is clear, when EPA is unable to provide even a temporary waiver of the RFS during the worst drought in 70 years to assure adequate feed and food supplies, that something is broken and needs to be fixed," said NPPC President Randy Spronk, a pork producer from Edgerton, Minn. "We applaud Congress, and especially Congressmen Goodlatte, Costa, Womack and Welch, for beginning this long overdue conversation on the RFS and for offering reasonable solutions to address problems associated with that mandate. We need to reform the RFS."
NCBA and NPPC want a reform bill that ensures market stability, feed availability and the long-term sustainability of rural American economies.
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