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Administration Allies Strike Against Ethanol Critics
By Mr Ethanol | May 21, 2008
Friends of the White House are lashing back against an anti-ethanol campaign.
MarketWatch:
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer defended ethanol at a press event Monday, saying that developing diversity in the U.S. portfolio of fuel is central to security. In response to recent reports that the Grocery Manufacturers Association paid a public-relations firm to campaign against ethanol, Schafer said “clearly we have a difference of opinion with the GMA.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Monday that major food manufacturers have launched a “national smear campaign against ethanol.” He sent a letter to GMA members with operations in Iowa, asking the firms to protest the GMA campaign. Recipients were firms such as Archer Daniels Midland Co. ConAgra Foods Inc. and General Mills Inc.
USDA officials said biofuel production accounts for a small percentage of the overall increase in food prices, and cited other factors such as weather, growing global demand and high energy costs.
Schafer added that biofuels such as ethanol contribute to higher corn prices, but that these higher prices pass through to retail prices at a lower rate, and that the food dollar is impacted more by processing and marketing than commodity costs.
In a statement on its Web site, the GMA said that the “possible unintended consequences of a sharp increase in the use of corn for fuel” should be considered when it comes to America’s biofuels policy.
AP Photos.
Topics: Energy, Ethanol, Legislative |
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