Drought prompts request to suspend ethanol law

Livestock and poultry producers formally asked the Obama administration Monday to suspend the nation’s renewable fuels standard because it is causing “severe economic harm” as corn prices surged to a record. A coalition including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and National Pork Producers Council, sent a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency asking for a waiver “in whole or in substantial part” the output requirements under the Renewable Fuels Standard for 12 months. “An unsustainable situation has been created by the drought combined with the lack of cushion in corn supply due to the tremendous demand from ethanol producers,” Tom Super, a spokesman for the National Chicken Council, part of the coalition, said Monday on a conference call with reporters. “We believe that the RFS is causing severe economic harm during this crisis.” The drought that sent corn prices to a record is devastating meat producers, and the demand for grain used to make ethanol is reducing available supplies to make food, the livestock groups said. The current mandate requires refiners to use 13.2 billion gallons of the biofuel this year and 13.8 billion in 2013. It’s “time to wean” the ethanol industry off government mandates, J.D. Alexander, the president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said on Monday’s call...more