WASHINGTON — Today, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) attached an amendment that would eliminate corn ethanol from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to the Keystone bill that is currently before the Senate. Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, released the following statement: "The Feinstein/Toomey amendment is founded upon a false premise. The sponsors claim the so-called corn ethanol mandate drives up the price of corn, food, and gas. The fact of the matter is that corn is less expensive today than when the RFS was passed in 2007. There is simply no truth to the notion that ethanol has driven up the price of food. In fact, the UN concluded that food prices are driven more by the price of energy than the cost of commodities. To that point, ethanol has been less expensive than gas for the better part of the past four years and has helped reduce consumer pain at the pump. "This amendment is an unnecessary solution to an imaginary problem. If approved, it would set our nation's energy, economic, and climate agenda back decades."
