California EPA Secretary Winston Hickox

A five-person fact-finding team from California returned after a weeklong visit to ethanol-producing areas of the Midwest. The delegation was led by California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Winston Hickox and included representatives of the California Resources Agency and the California Energy Commission.

The group visited four ethanol plants in three states and met with government and industry leaders in an effort to more fully understand the Midwest's perspective on the ethanol issue and to gather information on production and logistics. California faces the possibility of needing up to 900 million gallons of the fuel additive beginning in 2003. California will ban the use of the gasoline additive MTBE and must substitute another oxygenate, to meet current federal law. Earlier this year the U.S. EPA denied California a waiver of the federal oxygenate requirement.

The group, including Secretary Hickox, Deputy Secretary Nancy Sutley, Resources Agency Chief of Staff James Boyd and Energy Commission Executive Director Steve Larson, traveled to Nebraska on Monday, September 10th. The group toured ethanol plants in York and Blair, Nebraska; Sioux Center, Iowa and Luverne, Minnesota. The delegation also met with Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns and with representatives of the ethanol and railroad industries. The last two plants visited are owned by farmers in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. Representative farmers briefed the delegation on their views of the importance of farmer-owned cooperatives in the Midwest ethanol industry.

Secretary Hickox said on returning to California, "We have come back with a greater understanding of the Midwestern perspective and a hope for a cooperative solution to the current disagreement over the volume of ethanol that California will buy. We hope our Midwestern hosts understand that we have never been resistant to ethanol as a fuel additive, but we do have sincere reservations about the federal ethanol mandate.

"We were particularly impressed with the welcome we received, especially in the midst of a national tragedy. I hope that we will be able to work cooperatively with the Governors' Ethanol Coalition and the ethanol producers we met to craft a win-win solution that will guarantee ethanol's future in the nation and give the states currently using MTBE the flexibility we need in the immediate future.

"I expect to stay in touch with Governor Johanns's staff in the next few weeks." Secretary Hickox is due to report to Governor Gray Davis with recommendations on the ethanol issue by the end of September.