America’s top biofuel and farm advocates are calling on Congress to ensure the next round of COVID-19 relief includes U.S. ethanol and biodiesel production.
A joint letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was signed by the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, the National Biodiesel Board, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association, the National Farmers Union, the National Oilseed Processors Association, the National Renderers Association, the National Sorghum Producers, and Fuels America.
“The situation we face is dire,” wrote biofuel and farm advocates. “More than 130 biofuel plants have already partially or fully shut down as motor fuel demand plunged to 50-year lows. America’s biofuel plants purchase annually more than one-third of U.S. corn and U.S. soybean oil, and the loss of those markets has depressed farm income and will continue to push corn and soybean prices down dramatically. The damage has rippled across the entire agricultural supply chain.”
The letter notes that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) excluded the biofuel sector from initial aid under CARES Act, despite urgent letters of support to Secretary Sonny Perdue from broad, bipartisan coalitions in the House and Senate.