Cattlemen's Capitol Concerns: NCBA joins Texas Governor in support of RFS waiver request

TSCRA Daily News Update, June 27, 2008

NCBA joins Texas Governor in support of RFS waiver request

Texas Gov. Rick Perry hosted a press conference at the National Press Club on June 24 regarding the RFS waiver request submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by the State of Texas.

The petition requests that EPA reduce by 50 percent the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) mandate for production of grain-based ethanol in 2008.

The reduction would trim the mandate from the current 9 billion gallons to 4.5 billion gallons of feedgrain-based ethanol. This mandate - which is scheduled to expand to 15 billion gallons by 2015 - was included as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) that passed in December 2007.

During the press conference, NCBA and other interested agricultural associations spoke in support of the waiver. NCBA Chief Executive Officer Terry Stokes and Chief Economist Gregg Doud represented the cattle industry.

Doud outlined the difficult circumstances currently facing livestock producers as volatile spring weather and other factors have cut into already-tight grain supplies, and the nation struggles to find enough grain to meet renewable fuel production requirements.

"Cattlemen are now confronting $7 and even $8 corn, and that may just be the beginning," said Doud. "Even before the wet spring pushed into June, we were already seeing a lot of acres migrating away from corn this year. By the time conditions improve in many of these fields, planting corn will no longer be an option."

The comment period for the waiver petition closed on June 23. NCBA filed comments in support of the waiver. While NCBA policy supports the development of alternative energy sources and the overall goal of energy independence, cattlemen want to see a greater emphasis on fuels produced from cellulosic, non-feedgrain sources.

NCBA maintains that until grain-based ethanol production operates in a climate that is less driven by federal mandates and government subsidies, the nation will continue to see extremely slow development of alternative fuel sources.