US Farm, Oil Groups Spar Over Ethanol in Bill

Farm and oil industry lobbyists are waging a pitched battle of dueling facts and figures on the costs of corn-blended ethanol as the U.S. Senate prepares to debate an energy bill that would double its use.

The National Corn Growers Association and other backers of a plan to require U.S. refiners to blend 8 billion gallons of ethanol into gasoline a year by 2012 say it will give the oil-addicted economy a home-grown substitute. Gasoline prices should fall as more ethanol is used, they say.

Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute and refiners see it as a boondoggle benefiting a handful of Midwest farm states. They say an ethanol mandate will drive up pump prices and make corn — as well as groceries — more costly.
Reuters