Posted January 19, 2015
Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline eliminating the corn ethanol-blending mandate, according to The Hill article available here. Agri-Pulse also published an article available hereand The Des Moines Register here.
The bill removes the mandate to blend ethanol into gasoline but preserves biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol fuel mandates. The standard ethanol mandate is essentially a corn ethanol mandate.
“It drives up gas prices, increases food costs, damages car engines, and is harmful to the environment,” said Toomey.
The amendment is similar to the Corn Ethanol Mandate Elimination Act that Feinstein proposed with then-Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla, according to Agri-Pulse.
The corn ethanol mandate is expected to rise to 15 billion gallons this year. It is anticipated that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a lower level in line with the expected “blend wall,” the market limit on the amount of ethanol that can actually be sold. EPA proposed a lower level in 2014, but the mandate has not yet been finalized.
The Senate is expected to begin voting on the Keystone bill amendments next week, but President Barack Obama is expected to threaten the legislation.
Ethanol groups were quick to blast the Senate measure, according to The Des Moines Register.
“The Feinstein/Toomey amendment is founded upon a false premise,” said Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. “This amendment is an unnecessary solution to an imaginary problem. If approved, it would set our nation’s energy, economic, and climate agenda back decades.”
For more information on the Renewable Energy, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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