Delta Farm Press, NE
06-19-07
Grassley pushing ‘big oil’ for more E-85 stations
Farm Press Editorial Staff
Someday it may be called the ethanol highway. For now, the land along
Interstate 55 in Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois — and U.S. Highway 63 in Iowa
— is devoted more to producing renewable fuels than supplying them to
motorists.
I recently drove from Memphis to Ames, Iowa, to interview corn specialists at
Iowa State University. I traveled nearly 150 miles (to Benton, Mo.,) before I saw
the first sign for E-85, a 15 percent ethanol blend.
I left Interstate 55 in St. Louis and took Highways 61 and 63 through Missouri
and Iowa. But the availability of E-85 didn’t get much better despite Iowa’s
ranking as the nation’s No. 1 ethanol-producing state. (Iowa has 27 plants with
30 under construction or in the planning stage.)
Iowa has 65 stations selling E-85. Only one of those is a major branded station,
according to Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, ranking minority member on the
Senate Finance Committee.
A strong supporter of ethanol, Grassley secured an extension of the tax credits
for small ethanol plants and biodiesel distributors in the 2005 energy bill and
wrote in a tax break for installing clean fuel vehicle refueling stations.
The auto industry has promised to double its production of E-85 vehicles by
2010, having already sold 6 million flex-fuel vehicles. The United States thus has
willing consumers, engaged automakers and farmers and ethanol manufacturers
ramping up to meet production demand. But that will do little good if consumers
can’t buy E-85 at the pump.
Last year, Grassley asked the chief executives at the nation’s four largest oil
companies to commit to allow independent owners of branded stations to sell E85 or B-20. Each said they would when they testified at a hearing of the Senate
Judiciary Committee. Those promises have not been fulfilled.
“Iowans pull up every day to a pump selling fuel under a canopy branded by one
of these companies,” he said. “And, yet, contractual roadblocks appear to restrict
the purchase and sale of E-85 by the station owners, including discriminatory
tactics such as banning E-85 advertisements and prohibiting E-85 pumps to be
installed underneath the canopy.”
Grassley recently sent letters to the same companies asking for clarification. He
wants to know if they mislead Congress and the American public.
“When it comes to high gas prices, consumers are tired of the same-old excuses
from refinery outages, to low fuel stocks and distribution glitches,” he said. “I’m
tired of the Organization of Petroleum Export Countries tightening the noose
around our necks whenever it chooses to curb production.”
He didn’t mention the ongoing threat of supply disruptions from war in the Middle
East, continued violence in Nigeria or deteriorating relations with Venezuela and
other “problem” states.
Since Sun Belt farmers seem to be hitching their wagons to the renewable fuel
star, it would be ironic if someone who’s been their nemesis on payment limits
could prove to be a champion on renewable fuels.