By Jerry Hagstrom
DTN Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (DTN) -- The National Corn Growers Association expressed disappointment this week that many House members from corn-producing areas signed a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy calling on EPA to lower volumetric requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard.
NCGA also provided a list of rural members who signed the letter and suggested that farmers contact them. The letter listed 180 House members, which included 173 Republicans and seven Democrats.
"I'm disappointed to see members of Congress turn their back on farmers and rural communities," said Wesley Spurlock, first vice president of the National Corn Growers. Spurlock is a farmer from Stratford, Texas, a state which provided 31 of signatures.
"This letter has Big Oil's fingerprints all over it," said Spurlock. "The letter includes false attacks on ethanol that have been disproven time and again."
"The blend wall is a false construct. We have known from the beginning that eventually we would need higher blends of ethanol to meet the statutory requirements. That was the point: to replace fossil fuels with renewables. The oil industry doesn't want to hear that. That's why they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to repeal the RFS, even to the point of having their lobbyists write this letter."
The House letter comes as EPA is expected to make a final ruling on ethanol blend volumes for 2015 and 2016 by the end of November.
National Farmers Union also wrote its own letter to President Barack Obama this week highlighting what NFU sees as the "unqualified success" of the RFS. Roger Johnson, president of National Farmers Union, wrote to the president, "Wavering from our commitment to the RFS would be a grave mistake for both America's family farmers and this nation as a whole. We urge you to reject Big Oil's talking points and stay the course on the RFS."
Johnson noted the RFS has boosted incomes for family farmers by creating new and well-paying jobs in rural America and helped to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil while making important strides in mitigating climate change through the use of biofuels. "In short, the RFS is working exactly as planned," he said.
The letter from House members to EPA can be found here: http://dld.bz/…
DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton contributed to this report.
(CC/AG)
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