Ethanol And Agricultural Groups Send USDA A Letter In Favor Of Ethanol Funding

On March 26, 2015, a group of ethanol and agricultural groups sent
a letter (the industry letter) to the U.S. House of Representatives
Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food
and Drug Administration and Related Agencies to express their strong opposition
to including certain language harmful to the ethanol industry in the Fiscal
Year 2016
Agriculture, Rural Development, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and
Related Programs Appropriations bill. According to the industry letter, the
language would prohibit the use of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds
for the installation of ethanol blender pumps and efforts to promote ethanol
exports from the U.S.

The letter,
signed by the Renewable Fuels Association, American Coalition for Ethanol,
Growth Energy, National Farmers Union, and National Corn Growers Association,
was in response to a letter
written by 16 members of Congress requesting that language be added to prevent
funding from being used for USDA blender pump programs or the promotion of U.S.
ethanol exports. The industry letter points out that the Farm Bill
already prohibits USDA from being used to install blender pumps through the
Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), and that exporting excess ethanol
provides a valuable market as U.S. gasoline stations slowly start to offer E15
and E85.