The National Corn Growers Association and American Farm Bureau Federation have expressed their opposition to S. 1886, a bill sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein of California, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Bob Smith of New Hampshire which would give individual governors the authority to waive the federal oxygenate requirement in reformulated gasoline sold in their state.
"Gutting the Clean Air Act is not the way to address the water pollution problems posed by MTBE," said NCGA President Lynn Jensen in a letter sent to all Senators. "The Environmental Protection Agency credits reformulated gasoline with significant air quality improvements in many of America's most polluted cities. Therefore, eliminating the oxygenate requirement is not the answer. Ethanol is."
Jensen added that the solution to the MTBE problem should not come at the expense of farmers that have invested in ethanol production. Any solution "must be comprehensive and national in scope and must assure the use of clean burning, renewable ethanol as a replacement oxygenate in areas where the use of reformulated gasoline is mandated."
American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman said, "While we understand the need to address the problems associated with MTBE, the legislation fails to recognize that Clean Air Act standards can be met using an alternative to MTBE - ethanol." The USDA has concluded that replacing MTBE with ethanol could increase corn consumption by 600 million bushels annually. "During tough times for farmers, that would make a real difference," Stallman said.
