Immediate Release:
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Nebraska Corn Board contacts:
Don Hutchens: 800.632.6761
NE Corn Growers Assn. : 800.597.6479
Nebraska corn producers welcome EPA decision to maintain RFS
LINCOLN, NE – The Nebraska Corn Board (NCB) and Nebraska Corn Growers Association (NeCGA) welcomed today’s decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to not grant a 50 percent waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard as requested by Texas Governor Rick Perry.
EPA can grant such requests if it determines, after public notice and comment, that implementation of the RFS requirements would severely harm the economy or environment of a state, region or United States as a whole, or if there is an inadequate domestic supply of renewable fuel.
Perry filed the request claiming that the RFS was pushing up feed and food prices and causing harm to citizens and businesses in Texas. EPA decided this was not the case and that granting the waiver would not significantly lower feed or food prices.
“We appreciate that EPA followed the proper protocol and, in consultation with the Departments of Energy and Agriculture, came to the conclusion that granting Governor Perry’s request is not the solution to higher food and feed costs,” said Randy Uhrmacher, president of NeCGA and a corn producer from Juniata. “The system worked and determined that there is no crisis being driven by corn-based ethanol.”
Jon Holzfaster, chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board and a corn and cattle producer from Paxton, said regulations allow for an equitable review of the situation, and in this case EPA made the right decision.
“Reducing the RFS would send the wrong signal to ethanol producers and investors, and in the end the waiver would not have significantly lowered food prices because high petroleum prices are the main driver in today’s food costs,” Holzfaster said. “EPA’s decision was right on, and it keeps us on the path to a more diversified fuel supply.”
The Nebraska Corn Board is a self-help program, funded and managed by Nebraska corn farmers. Producers invest in the program at a rate of 1/4 of a cent per bushel of corn sold. Nebraska corn checkoff funds are invested in programs of market development, research and education.
NeCGA is a grassroots commodity organization that works to enhance the profitability of corn producers. Now in its 36th year of service to its members, NeCGA has more than 1,800 dues paying members in Nebraska. NeCGA is affiliated with the NCGA, which has more than 31,000 dues paying members nationwide.
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