The federal government’s ethanol mandates are driving up the price of corn for home consumption and the price of everything else that has to be trucked around the country. But with the rising price of my Double Whoppers With Cheese, I say to hell with renewable fuel mandates.
BURGERS, FRIES AND ENERGY POLICY
Chains say renewables mandate is increasing their costs across the nation
By Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Houston Chronicle
June 21, 2013
Chain restaurants on Thursday launched a campaign aimed at repealing a renewable fuel mandate they say is hiking costs for franchisees nationwide.
Robert Green, the head of the National Coalition of Chain Restaurants, said the goal is to "leverage the grass-roots strength of franchisees" as Congress takes initial steps to tackle the 8-year-old mandate.
The restaurateurs' push joins other fights against the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires refiners to blend steadily increasing amounts of corn-based ethanol and other alternatives into the nation's transportation fuel supply.
The standard is intended to help wean the U.S. off foreign oil, in exchange for domestically produced alternatives, and to reduce fossil fuel emissions.
As gasoline use has declined, the oil industry says it no longer can blend in enough ethanol to meet the mandate, without exceeding a 10 percent threshold that is approved for use in all cars and trucks.
Because the renewable fuel standard sets target volumes rather than percentages, a drop in gasoline use increases the percentage of renewables in the fuel supply.
A higher 15 percent mix, known as E15, is approved only for vehicles made since 2001 and the oil industry has questioned its safety.
Meanwhile, farmers and the food industry complain that as some growers shift from food-grade sweet corn to field varieties destined for ethanol, it has pushed the costs of feeding livestock higher. Lisa Ingram, the president of White Castle, who spoke at a news conference on the chain restaurants' campaign Thursday, said that since the fuel mandate took effect in 2005, the price of corn has risen 300 percent.
Mark Behm, the owner of Wendy's franchises in Michigan, said the renewable fuel standard is pushing costs so high that it's difficult for restaurateurs to expand their businesses.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is set to delve into the issue next week, with a high-profile hearing on the renewable fuel standard.
Legislation pending in the House would repeal the standard. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and other senators introduced a companion measure on Thursday in the Senate.
Some lawmakers have pushed different approaches. For instance, while Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., has sponsored a full repeal bill, he also has introduced separate legislation that would eliminate an "advanced biofuels" category in the fuel standard and decrease the amount of the alternative fuels that are required through 2022. That measure effectively would reverse the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to allow 15 percent ethanol blends in the marketplace.
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