Farmers to Trump: You Owe Us

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December 6, 2016

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by Jane Wells (CNBC) … This even as the oil industry — suffering from its own low prices — could push the Trump administration to reduce support for ethanol. “I think some people would still like to see the death of ethanol,” Becker (Todd Becker, CEO of Green Plains) said, even though he said the product is now competitive without federal mandates.

“Ethanol has become the backbone of agriculture” he said, by buying corn which farmers would have no market for. “If we stay in $50-$70 oil and $3-$4 corn, we’re in a very good, competitive world.”

Like Gulke, Becker hopes Trump will remember the people who voted for him.

“I was there in Iowa when he said, ‘I support the renewable fuel standard,’ and I was there when he said, ‘I love ethanol.’ I assume he’s going to stick to his word.” READ MORE and MORE (Farm Progress) and MORE (Successful Farming) and MORE (Politico’s Morning Energy) and MORE (The Atlantic) and MORE (Argus Media) and MORE (The Courier) and MORE (Des Moines Register)

Excerpt from Politico’s Morning Energy: Ethanol groups nervous, but ready to work with Pruitt: Trump’s selection of Pruitt (Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt), a staunch oil ally, has generated a split response from the ethanol industry, and the influence of billionaire Carl Icahn on his selection couldn’t have inspired much confidence. Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, an ethanol producer’s trade group, said the group “looks forward to working with him to carry out president-elect Trump’s strong commitments to protecting the Renewable Fuel Standard.”

Meanwhile Brooke Coleman, who leads the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, also looks forward to working with Pruitt, but sounded more alarmed in his statement, saying, “Mr. Pruitt’s prior statements on the RFS are hardly good but as EPA chief he would not be representing just Oklahoma interests anymore.” He asked “why would he [Pruitt] engineer an attack on the RFS to help OPEC run down renewable fuels?” Both groups highlighted how key ethanol states like Iowa and Nebraska helped get Trump elected. Another group, the American Coalition for Ethanol, said it was “disappointed” that Pruitt had criticized the RFS in the past, but again expressed faith that Trump would honor campaign commitments to the RFS. READ MORE

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