Corn growers express outrage over ethanol letter

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is upset Congress members signed a letter asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce the Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO).

A letter dated Nov. 4 to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy was drafted by an oil industry lobbyist and asks for the RVO, the amount of biofuels blended into the nation’s fuel supply, to be lowered.

“This letter has Big Oil’s fingerprints all over it,” Wesley Spurlock, NCGA first vice president, said. “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. I’m disappointed to see Members of Congress turn their back on farmers and rural communities.”

Spurlock wants all farmers, employees of the renewable fuels industry, and rural communities to call their elected officials. The following members of Congress from corn-producing states signed the letter:
Colorado: Mike Coffman (R), Doug Lamborn (R)
Illinois: Robert Dold (R)
Kansas: Mike Pompeo (R)
Kentucky: Thomas Massie (R), Andy Barr (R)
Maryland: Andy Harris (R)
Michigan: Dan Benishek (R), Mike Bishop (R), Tim Walberg (R)
Missouri: Billy Long (R)
North Carolina: G. K. Butterfield (D), Robert Pittenger (R), David Rouzer (R), George Holding (R), Renee Elmers (R), Walter Jones (R), Virginia Foxx (R), Richard Hudson (R)
New York: John Katko (R), Christopher Gibson (R), Tom Reed (R), Chris Collins (R), Lee Zeldin (R), Richard Hanna (R), Peter King (R)
Ohio: Jim Jordan (R), Steve Chabot (R), Bradley Wenstrup (R)
Pennsylvania: Lou Barletta (R), Glenn Thompson (R), Ryan Costello (R), Joseph Pitts (R), Keith Rothfus (R), Charles Dent (R), Bill Shuster (R), Patrick Meehan (R), Tim Murphy (R), Scott Perry (R), Mike Kelly (R)
Texas: Marc Veasey (D), Henry Cuellar (D), Filemon Vela (D), Gene Green (D), Ruben Hinojosa (D), Joaquin Castro (D), Kevin Brady (R), Will Hurd (R), Randy Weber (R), Kay Granger (R), Randy Neugebauer (R), Roger Williams (R), Jeb Hensarling (R), Pete Session (R), Louie Gohmert (R), Lamar Smith (R), Mike Conaway (R), Sam Johnson (R), Kenny Marchant (R), Michael Burgess (R), John Culberson (R), Ted Poe (R), Blake Farenthold (R), Michael McCaul (R), Brian Babin (R), John Ratcliffe (R), Joe Barton (R), John Carter (R), Pete Olson (R), Mac Thornberry (R), Bill Flores (R)
Virginia: Scott Rigell (R), Robert Wittman (R), Morgan Griffith (R), Robert Hurt (R), Barbara Comstock (R), Dave Brat (R), Bob Goodlatte (R)
Wisconsin: Glenn Grothman (R), James Sensenbrenner (R)