NEWS RELEASE

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Immediate Release:
Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Nebraska Corn Board contacts:
Randy Klein: 800.632.6761

Final days to comment on ethanol waiver arrive

LINCOLN, NE — The deadline to submit comments in support of increasing the ethanol blend rate from 10 percent ethanol (e10) to up to 15 percent ethanol expires July 20, and the Nebraska Corn Board is encouraging those who have not yet submitted comments to do so before the deadline.

The Nebraska Corn Board is also encouraging farmers who may have already submitted comments to submit additional comments that share their positive experiences with ethanol and small engines.

“We had an outstanding response before the original May 21 deadline, and want to remind farmers and others that the extended deadline is quickly approaching,” said the Nebraska Corn Board’s Randy Klein. “We also want to encourage farmers to comment on ethanol and small engines due to a coordinated attack on ethanol by some recreational trade associations.”

Klein said many farmers own boats, all terrain vehicles and other equipment that use small engines and have experienced no problems with ethanol blended gasoline. “There is no performance or other concerns about ethanol-blended fuels in these kinds of engines,” he said. “Ethanol has been used for years in small engines all across Nebraska and the United States. It isn’t anything new.”

He also pointed out that the request before the Environmental Protection Agency is to allow up to 15 percent blends – not to mandate it at all pumps.

“There has been some confusion there as those against the waiver don’t always make it clear. The ruling does not prevent the sale of regular unleaded (no ethanol fuel) and 10 percent blends; they will be available just as they are today,” Klein said.

According to the Nebraska Corn Board, nearly 5,000 Nebraska farmers returned yellow postcards as part of its original campaign to submit comments to the EPA. Many more submitted comments electronically.

To submit comments electronically, the Nebraska Corn Board and Nebraska Corn Growers Association have setup links on their websites: www.NebraskaCorn.org or www.NeCGA.org.

Klein said that approving the ethanol waiver request would help expand the ethanol marketplace. In turn, it would create jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and expand the use of cleaner-burning fuels.

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.

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