Harkin: Don't weaken ethanol goals

Furor over food prices continues. From the office of Sen. Tom Harkin:

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should uphold the ethanol standards passed by the energy bill with an expansion of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Earlier today, 23 Senate Republicans urged the agency to halt ethanol production expansion.
“To single out increased biofuels production and use in the United States, European Union and other countries as the chief cause of higher world food prices is an over-simplification of the problem. Numerous factors are contributing to this increase in prices: a strong demand for food imports in Asian countries such as China and India, abetted by the weak U.S. dollar, high energy costs, and poor harvests over the last few years in key producing countries such as Australia and the European Union.
“There is no question that rising food prices are turning into a global concern, but the call for EPA to halt the growth in U.S. ethanol use and cut short the promise of biofuels for our nation’s energy security is without merit. Instead, we must get to the heart of the problem by evaluating the root cause of high food prices and expanding the use of alternative feedstocks in ethanol production, such as the investment in production of biofuels from cellulosic materials in the farm bill currently moving through Congress.”