Biofuel imports should be closely scrutinized

Hard-learned gasohol lessons from the past must be remembered

Importation of biofuels into the United States should be closely scrutinized according to the American corn Growers Association. "We have learned some hard lessons in the past when importing alternate fuels which we must work hard to avoid in the future," says ACGA Board Chairman Keith Dittrich. "Year to date biofuel imports are setting a record pace and plans to import additional biodiesel and ethanol from foreign sources need to be closely reviewed and federal laws must be updated to ensure the future viability of the nation's young and growing biofuel industry."

"Back in the early 1980s, when gasohol was the rage with the Prairie Populist movement of that time, the U.S. allowed the importation of inferior methanol," explained Dittrich. "The fuel systems of thousands of cars and trucks were damaged by those cheap fuel imports. Many service stations at that time proudly displayed signs that there was no alcohol in their gasoline, resulting in a huge setback for our domestic ethanol industry. We simply cannot afford to make these mistakes again and risk jeopardizing our domestic ethanol industry."

Dittrich expanded his remarks to include his concerns with importation of biodiesel. "Today, our nation's new and upcoming biodiesel industry has gone to great lengths to avoid the pitfalls experienced by the gasohol industry," said Dittrich. "It would be a huge tragedy to see this new domestic fuel industry struck down in its infancy by inferior imported fuels. We must ensure that any foreign biofuels coming into the U.S. today meet the same strict standards established for our domestic biofuels."

"As important as maintaining our high fuel standards are, we also need to update our nation's laws to ensure our domestic biofuel industry is not negatively impacted by foreign imports," added Dittrich.

ACGA recommends the following changes be made to current federal laws to guarantee that Congress's original objectives for the nation's biofuel industry are met:

--Imported biofuels should not be allowed to count toward the federal Renewable Fuel Standard,

--IRS code should not allow biofuel tax incentives for imported biofuels,

--Import tariff loopholes that allow non- Caribbean Basin ethanol into the U.S. through the Caribbean Basin Initiative should be closed,

--All biofuels should be labeled at the pump as to its country of origin, and

--Imported biofuels should be held to the same high quality standards as domestically produced biofuels.

"Farm organizations and rural Americans have worked hard to build our homegrown fuel industry, as have key leaders in the Congress," concluded Dittrich. "Years ago, back in the frigid winter of 1979, demonstrating farmers camping on the Mall in the nation's capital built a still, made ethanol and then baked cookies from the distillers grain which were distributed to and consumed by members of Congress. That was a long time ago and today we can all take credit for building an infrastructure, supported with good safeguards and incentives from the federal government, for the rapid expansion of our domestic biofuel industry. Let us all make sure we move ever forward in this endeavor."

ACGA represents 14,000 members in 35 states. ACGA has standing bylaws that prohibits the organization from accepting funding from corporate agriculture. That means that ACGA represents farmers--not seed, chemical, food processing, grain trading or crop insurance companies. For more information, or if you would like to join ACGA or help support our efforts, please see www.acga.org.

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Date: 5/10/07

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