July 07, 2011
A Plan to Fuel the Future
After much discussion and bipartisan compromise, Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) have agreed on a plan that would reform the ethanol tax incentive and end the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC).
For more than a year, Growth Energy has stressed that federal investment in the ethanol industry should be reformed, and focused on market access instead of production. We laid it all out in our Fueling Freedom Plan last year – you can check it out here.
This plan finds a middle ground that will benefit all Americans – reducing the deficit while removing barriers to the marketplace by providing further investment in second-generation biofuels and grants for Flex Fuel pumps. Instead of pulling the rug out from under the ethanol industry, it ends the VEETC in a fiscally responsible way, and does not deepen our nation’s dependence on foreign oil.
Furthermore, this plan continues investment in second-generation biofuels, like cellulosic ethanol, which President Obama supported as recently as yesterday as an important, viable home-grown alternative to foreign oil.
The fight is not over yet. Failure by Congress to pass this deal will result in higher gas prices at the worst possible time and will send even more American money overseas to OPEC. Even today, ethanol detractors are holding a sham hearing in Congress to discredit E15. The witnesses are made up of ethanol critics ranging from Big Oil – who has no desire to see our nation reduce our dependence on foreign oil – to the chicken council who just wants cheap corn. In fact, having the chicken council as an expert witness on the science of E15 makes about as much sense as having Colonel Sanders as a witness on nuclear proliferation.
We need to let our Senators and Representatives know how important this plan is – use Growth Energy’s Action Center to reach out to them, and be sure to thank Sens. Thune and Klobuchar for their unfailing support for America’s only viable alternative to foreign oil today.
