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Biofuel supporters rally in Des Moines
Senior state officials from Iowa and several other Midwestern states were in Des Moines Thursday for a rally in support of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS).
One of the main arguments for maintaining the RFS is the economic benefits that ethanol and biodiesel have brought to rural America. Iowa Governor Terry Branstad says the renewable fuels industry has created high-paying jobs and rewarding careers in the Heartland.
“It’s estimated that the EPA proposal would cost 45,000 jobs,” Branstad says. “We’re trying to create jobs, not destroy jobs, in this country.”
AUDIO: Gov. Terry Branstad (14:35 MP3)
Nebraska director of agriculture Greg Ibach says the proposed reduction in the RFS is “the wrong policy at the wrong time”.
“This adulteration of policy without meeting the justifications built into the legislation devalues decades of research and development and creates questions marks for our rural communities who have embraced their role in aiding the U.S. energy portfolio,” Ibach says.
Indiana lieutenant governor Sue Ellspermann offered this perspective.
“The amount of ethanol cut in the EPA proposal is nearly identical to the 1.3 billion gallons that the 11 ethanol plants in our state produce annually,” Ellspermann says.
AUDIO: Sue Ellspermann (8:03 MP3)
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