RFA President Confident About Ethanol in 2008

RFS and the Energy Bill to pass in December?
However, an accelerated RFS is part of the new Energy bill, which has been significantly delayed in the United States Senate. As the RFS target for 2012, set at 7.5 billion litres, is likely to be met next year, will the decision be made in time to avoid oversupply? “Washington is a dysfunctional place right now,” Mr. Dinneen agrees, “and it is far more easy to stop legislation than to pass legislation. Having said that, I remain pretty optimistic that they’ll be able to get an energy bill done. I think $96 per barrel of oil is a powerful motivator for congress to act and people are very concerned that congress is not taking definitive action to address that tremendous challenge. Mr. Dinneen refers to a poll released last week showing that 74% of Americans want the US to utilize greater volumes of renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel, and more than 80% want the government to be actively engaged in promoting policies that support that.

“The congress reads those polls and I am reasonably confident, as much as anybody can confident about legislative action in Washington today, that there will be an energy bill before the end of the year.”, adding “I think it will happen sometime in December, and I am very confident that if there’s an energy bill, it will include an accelerated and an expanded Renewable Fuels Standard. One that is largely focussed on cellulose.”