Ethanol groups add lobbying firepower for mandate fight

Two ethanol groups have signed contracts with high-powered lobbying firm Heather Podesta + Partners amid a growing fight over the future of the federal ethanol mandate. Growth Partners, an industry group, and Poet, a leading American ethanol producer, filed lobbying paperwork this week detailing contracts with the firm. A Growth Partners spokesman said the advocacy will focus on “protecting” the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), pushing to waive usage limits on certain ethanol blends and shaping tax reform measures in Congress this year. A Poet official said the firm would be “assisting us on our policy priorities, which include the Renewable Fuel Standard and tax reform.” The new contracts come amid a simmering debate within the ethanol industry over the future of the RFS, the federal mandate requiring ethanol to be blended into gasoline supplies..more