July 22, 2010
Growth Energy supports tax credit—but urges investment in retail fuel distribution
Published in Feed-Stuffs
Wesley Clark, the co-chairman of Growth Energy, told the Senate Agriculture Committee today his organization supports continuation of the current ethanol tax credit and the extension of the tariff on imported foreign ethanol. But he re-iterated a concept that Growth Energy unveiled last week that proposed the federal blenders' tax credits be re-directed to build new distribution and retail marketing infrastructure.
The shift to tax support for such infrastructure apparently could be included in comprehensive energy legislation, but that legislation currently is stalled in the Senate. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley asked Gen. Clark if Growth Energy would support the existing blender’s tax credit in the absence of Senate action on infrastructure investments in energy legislation.
In response, Clark, the retired four-star U.S. Army general who co-chairs Growth Energy, testified his organization "fully support(s) the extension of current tax policies and the extension of the secondary tariff on foreign ethanol" as part of U.S. comprehensive energy policy. But, he testified, Growth Energy's "preference would be to extend and redirect some of this assistance into the building out of the infrastructure, because ethanol is so competitive right now that really it's a matter of working the demand side so that consumers can buy it – as much as working the demand side.
"If we can't get these issues addressed in the energy legislation," Clark said, "we certainly support the straight extension (of the blenders' tax credit) for five years at the current rate."
On July 15, Growth Energy unveiled its "Fueling Freedom Plan" proposal, which called "for the phasing out of current ethanol supports over time, by redirecting a portion of those funds to build out the infrastructure for the distribution and use of ethanol, and shifting the remaining portion away from the oil companies to opening the market," according to a Growth Energy announcement.
