Got Corn? Ethanol Is No Longer King In Iowa Among Candidates

Iowa, Opinions, Policy

October 27, 2015

Print This Article Share it With Friends

by Clay Masters (National Public Radio) … But this election cycle, ethanol is not the campaign force it once was. …

“I think, ultimately, we need to get to a point where there aren’t winners or losers based on subsidies or mandates or anything else,” Jeb Bush said in an interview with Iowa Public Radio.

That’s a common response from Republican presidential candidates these days, and it comes at a time when the ethanol industry is struggling. …

…

“We want to make certain that whoever is in the White House, whether it’s a Democrat or Republican, that they understand this issue, that they support it,” said Patty Judge, a former Iowa agriculture secretary and co-chair of America’s Renewable Future, a bipartisan group funded by the biofuels industry. “Seventy-three thousand jobs in Iowa are in jeopardy if that Renewable Fuel standard should go away, and we just don’t want to see that happen so we’re going to be pushing pretty hard.”

One reason presidential candidates aren’t pandering to Iowa industries anymore is because the campaigns have become increasingly focused on national audiences rather than Iowans, argues Doug Gross, a prominent Iowa Republican. READ MORE

Comments are closed.

Advanced BioFuels USA