By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced April 16 it is accepting public comment for the next 30 days regarding a waiver application to increase the amount of ethanol that can be blended into a gallon of gasoline, to no more than 15 percent.

A group of 54 ethanol manufacturers, led by the pro-ethanol industry organization Growth Energy, submitted an application to increase the ethanol blend wall to the EPA in early March. The agency must issue a decision within 270 days of the request, or by December 1, according to the EPA’s Cathy Milbourn.

The current limit of 10 percent for non-flex-fuel vehicles has been in place since 1978 – which is where some of the nation’s biggest livestock groups would like to see it remain.

“Before the administration or Congress proposes an increase in the ethanol blend percentage, a comprehensive assessment needs to address how such an increase will impact the market and if production will be able to accommodate a higher blend percentage,” wrote the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc. (NCBA) in a letter addressed to key members of President Obama’s cabinet, including Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

“Corn ethanol production is significant to the cattle industry because of its impact on feed grain prices. Since January of 2008, cattle feeders have lost a record $4.3 billion in equity because of high feed costs.

The additional 1.6 billion bushels of additional corn needed for an E15 blend percentage is equivalent to the entire amount of corn the cattle industry utilizes in one year.”

The NCBA letter also challenged the federal subsidy for ethanol, stating that “NCBA’s members continue to advocate for a market-based approach when building any industry. Cattle producers do not support government interventions via subsidies and mandates; these practices disrupt the market and are never substitutes for good business practices.”

Steve Fogelsong, a producer from Astoria, Ill., serves as president elect of the NCBA. In a similar letter to Vilsack and other Obama cabinet members, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) asked the administration to “lead an effort to examine the effects of such an expansion on corn availability, the price elasticity of corn, the users of corn and rural work forces and industries associated with corn.”

The NPPC letter further asks the Obama administration to bring “stakeholders” together to consider all possible repercussions a raise in the ethanol blend limit might cause, before the EPA rules on the request.

“In this new era of openness and transparency and calls for scientific integrity in Washington, I can’t imagine anyone or any organization being opposed to a study on the effects of producing and using more corn ethanol,” said Don Butler, NPPC president, in a news release.

“We hope the Obama administration and Congress provide answers to the questions surrounding ethanol expansion before rushing to change ethanol policy – that’s the American way.”
According to the NPPC, since October 2007 pork producers have lost an average of $20 on each hog marketed and the industry as a whole has lost between $3 billion-$3.5 billion in equity due mostly to higher feed costs associated with increased U.S. corn production for ethanol.

The National Corn Growers Assoc. (NCGA) announced a policy decision on March 6 pledging to develop a unified strategy to expand ethanol usage and production.

A news release stated the NCGA supports the ethanol industry’s efforts to move beyond the current 10 percent blend wall.
“We understand overcoming this hurdle will require sound science in a transparent process,” said NCGA President Bob Dickey. “NCGA also supports the regulatory process to increase the blend rate and to replace foreign oil with domestically produced renewable energy.
“U.S. corn efficiency is continually advancing and NCGA expects even greater improvements in sustainability and efficiency in the years to come. It currently takes 40 percent less land and 50 percent less energy to produce a bushel of corn than it did in 1987.”

Submit comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0211, by one of the following methods:
•Go to www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting comments

•E-mail a-and-r-docket@epa.gov

•Fax to 202-566-1741

•Mail to: Air and Radiation Docket, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0211, U.S. EPA, Mailcode: 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, D.C. 20460; please include two copies

•Hand delivery to EPA Docket Center, Public Reading Room, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, D.C.

Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket’s normal hours of operation and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.