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 here
and 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.
