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Nebraska, Iowa officials hold ‘last chance’ RFS rally

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts speaks at the RFS rally.

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts speaks at the RFS rally.

Top officials from Iowa and Nebraska joined up Friday at the Novozymes enzyme plant in Blair, Nebraska to make one last pitch in support of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS).

This Monday (July 27) is the deadline to submit comments on the EPA’s proposal to reduce the biofuels requirements in the RFS.

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts says the EPA’s proposal creates uncertainty for the biofuels industry.

“I’ll tell you, coming from business, the worst thing for business is uncertainty,” Ricketts says. “Now the EPA is changing the rules of the game and creating uncertainty. That means business will be hesitant to invest and create those job like the folks you see around here today.”

Iowa lieutenant governor Kim Reynolds says the growth of the biofuels industry has been positive for Iowa’s economy.

“Unless the EPA advances a robust RFS, they will constrain growth in America’s heartland,” Reynolds says, “and it’s estimated that this single EPA proposal would costs thousands of jobs nationally.”

Also speaking was Steve Nelson, president of Nebraska Farm Bureau. Nelson says with corn prices at breakeven or less and another big crop on the way, EPA’s proposal is a step in the wrong direction.

“It’s never been more important that we have a strong ethanol industry,” Nelson says. “This pullback, essentially, in the RFS, has created uncertainty in the marketplace and lowered the price of our commodities as well”

Nelson says EPA’s proposal ignores the benefits ethanol and biofuels have provided including a lessening of the the nation’s dependence on foreign oil; reduced air pollution; increased farm incomes; and good paying jobs within rural America.

AUDIO: Excerpts from RFS rally in Blair, Nebraska

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