WUD: EPA Ethanol Mandate Impacting
California Dairy Families
“If
you eat, if you utilize any type of motorized transportation, if you care about
the environment, the renewable fuel standard that utilizes corn-based ethanol
is contrary to your interests.”
That
was the message delivered first-hand Wednesday to USEPA Administrator Gina
McCarthy by Western United Dairymen CEO Michael Marsh. Marsh was part of a
small group discussion with Administrator McCarthy sponsored by the CDFA and
the Fresno County Farm Bureau at the Efird Ranch in Fresno County. McCarthy was
spending time in the valley getting a feel for the breadth of California
agriculture.
The
agency last week lowered the amount of corn-based ethanol that must be blended
into U.S. fuel supplies from 16.55 billion gallons in 2013 to 15.21 billion
gallons in 2014. Marsh applauded that decision but indicated that using food
for fuel was folly and that the man-date must be repealed. “Our dairymen are
just one Midwestern drought away from an-other economic calamity so long as the
mandate remains,” related Marsh.
Administrator
McCarthy responded that she was keenly aware of the challenges faced by
livestock producers as a result of the mandate. She also expressed
disappointment that other types of ethanol technologies utilizing waste
products had been slow to evolve. She indicated the Agency would be looking to
find additional incentives to stimulate more in-vestment in things such as
cellulosic ethanol that would not be so harmful to California dairy operations.
WUD
is supportive of a bill that Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Tom Coburn
(R-Okla.) plan to introduce which would strip the conventional ethanol portion
of the renew-able fuel standard while keeping the standard’s targets for
advanced biofuels intact. In the house, WUD is supporting HR 1462, the
Renewable Fuel Standard reform Act of 2013.
Labels: CDFA, Ethanol Rules Hurt California Daires. Western United Dairymen, Michael Marsh