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AdvertisementSibling rivalryRoughly 90 percent of the political oxygen in our nation's capitol is being consumed by the health care debate. The House is working on a bill and the Senate Finance Committee just passed their version with one lone Republican voting " yes." Congressional Democrats and President Obama are touting the finance piece as a "bipartisan" bill. It's interesting that the support of one member of the opposite party means a measure is "bipartisan." To me, "bipartisanship" is a more precious word and is more reflective of a process where members from both parties draft a bill that, in the end, each party supports. One positive aspect of all the hoopla surrounding health care is that not much attention is being paid to the sibling rivalry within the ethanol community. In an effort to calm the waters, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) recently sent letters to two of their biggest allies in the ethanol promotion game: Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). These two have been butting heads since POET chief Jeff Broin and other ethanol plant owners formed Growth Energy less than a year ago. You may recall that last year, around this time, a great debate was underway regarding the price of food. Consumers were complaining about high milk and food commodity prices. Manufacturers spent a fortune on public messaging claiming that high food prices were the result of increased ethanol production. Ethanol was using too much corn and those poor food companies couldn't get their hands on enough cheap feedstock. Broin and others felt RFA and NCGA were not doing a good enough job of combating the manufacturers, so they created a new trade association to fight back. Growth Energy hired four-star General Wesley Clark as co-chairman and former National Farmers Union president, Tom Buis, to run the day-to-day operations. Since Growth Energy's inception, they have been fighting for financial support and membership from the same folks that RFA depends upon and of whom many are also members of NCGA. Rightfully so, NCGA seems caught in the middle--like a parent trying to break up a fight between two bratty brothers. As would any parent, NCGA wanted to keep their disciplinary action private. Unfortunately, this sibling rivalry is playing out in the open and eventually may hurt the goals of all involved. Already two well-respected aggie insiders have written news articles about the latest correspondence between the three parties. According to the reports, RFA's top policy goal is to ensure that the ethanol tax credit, which expires in 2010, is extended. Growth Energy, however, believes the industry's top goal should be to prevent the EPA from holding ethanol producers accountable for land use changes that increase greenhouse gas emissions. Both are high priorities for the industry and need extensive congressional support before either the House or the Senate will adopt them. Instead of fighting for credit or attention, perhaps these siblings need a little reminder of what's at stake if they both fail. Advertisement
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