The U.S. Senate exhibits more bipartisanship than what makes the biggest headlines. This week, a bipartisan group of 16 senators met with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy to deliver a single message: The agency’s proposed reduction of the Renewable Fuel Standard for 2014 would discourage investment and hurt jobs in rural communities across the country while undermining a homegrown fuel supply.
The EPA wants to lower the biodiesel target below current industry production levels and reduce the conventional ethanol target by more than a billion gallons.
In a Capitol Hill meeting, Administrator McCarthy listened to senators’ concerns. I tried to impress upon her that while President Obama and his administration have claimed to be in favor of domestic biofuels, this proposal is a step backward and will harm our efforts to further diversify our fuel supply. The fact is, the “blend wall” limiting the amount of ethanol that can be blended with gasoline is a result of Big Oil’s obstruction to higher ethanol blends, and the EPA’s proposal rewards its obstruction. The Administrator heard a lot about the harm this proposal would do to the environment, our national and energy security, and our rural economies. I also personally relayed the request of the entire Iowa delegation to host a field hearing in Iowa to hear directly from farmers and biofuels producers about the benefits of the RFS.
The EPA has a record of deciding major policy issues without hearing directly from the employers, workers and communities affected. That’s a poor way to conduct the nation’s business. I hope the Capitol Hill meeting persuaded the agency’s leader on that point.
Meanwhile, an example of forward-thinking energy policy unfolded in Iowa. The MidAmerican Energy Company announced that it plans to add up to 1,050 megawatts of wind generation in Iowa by year-end 2015, including up to 448 new wind turbines, in Grundy, Madison, Marshall, O’Brien and Webster counties. All of the blades for the expansion will be manufactured in Fort Madison, according to MidAmerican.
As the author of the first-ever production tax credit for wind energy in 1992, I was pleased to see the kind of extraordinary investment in wind-energy production that emphasizes the value and success of the federal production tax credit. Wind energy continues to prove that it’s a force in America’s energy supply by delivering clean, renewable power. Wind energy comes from local farms, it’s for local customers and, most often, it adds investment value to local communities. Wind energy makes sense for America’s future. The same is true for ethanol and biodiesel, as the EPA would be wise to note.