Ethanol advocates are urging the Senate to reject a House-passed spending bill supported by South Dakota Republican Kristi Noem because it would prevent the Obama administration from carrying out plans to increase the amount of the corn-based biofuel in gasoline.
At a time of unrest in the oil-rich Middle East that threatens to send U.S. gas prices above $4 per gallon, ethanol supporters had hoped to tout the benefits of domestically produced ethanol, an important industry in South Dakota.
Instead, they're trying to torpedo efforts by some congressional conservatives to pull the plug on federal support of ethanol.
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, co-chairman of the advocacy group Growth Energy, told reporters that the anti-ethanol provisions "are about politics" and could hurt the country's effort to wean itself from oil imported from increasingly unstable and unfriendly nations.
'A matter of national security'
The House adopted a 2011 spending bill last week that cuts $61 billion from 2010 levels. The Senate has yet to act on it.
Among the dozens of amendments to the House bill was one by Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., that would bar the use of federal money to build facilities for ethanol blender pumps. Another, by Rep. John Sullivan, R-Okla., would stop the Environmental Protection Agency from moving ahead with plans to raise from 10 percent to 15 percent the portion of ethanol that can be mixed with gas for use by cars and light trucks made after 2000.
Honoring campaign pledge
Noem, a freshman leader in the Republican-controlled House, voted against both the Flake and Sullivan provisions but ended up voting for the entire spending bill, saying it was important to follow through on a campaign pledge to shrink the size of government.
Noem said she plans to find ways to "help ethanol" and will work to sway her colleagues in Congress who aren't yet sold on the biofuel.
Environmentalists, oil companies and food interests oppose increased use of the biofuels, saying it would drive up food prices and worsen pollution.
Clark and other ethanol backers reject the argument by pointing to increasing crop yields that allow more corn to be harvested per acre. And they dismiss concerns by small-engine makers about potential mechanical damage from the higher-ethanol blend by pointing to the months of scientific study and testing by the Obama administration before approving E15.
