How much ethanol production should the government require?
It’s a hot topic. A stronger Renewable Fuel Standard was passed just in December, but already a contingent of Republican senators, including presumptive presidential nominee John McCain, has asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to waive or modify that law, which mandates 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol by 2015 and 36 billion of biofuels by 2022. ¶ In April, Texas Gov. Rick Perry made a formal request to the EPA to waive 50 percent of this year’s 9 million gallon requirement for production of ethanol derived from grain. He blamed the standard for driving up food prices and corn prices — possibly to $8 a bushel for the 2008 crop — which would cost Texas livestock producers some $3.59 billion. “If you think it’s bad for foreign countries to control our fuel, imagine what it would be like if they control our food supplies,” Perry wrote in his request that only 4.5 million gallons be required this year. ¶ Interested parties — and interested citizens — had until this week t
