POLICY PREDICTIONS: The ethanol industry has hope for the new Farm Bill, but it also has concerns about the current federal spending restraints. PHOTO: BBI INTERNATIONAL
tain incentives to reward farmers for activities that sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and we’d like an Energy Title to reward energy efficiency activities at biorefineries and on farms and to provide some support for continuing to develop infrastructure for the use of higher ethanol blends.” John Fuher, senior director of government affairs for Growth Energy, says the organization is most concerned about a farmer safety net in the next Farm Bill, emphasizing support for those struggling to make a living. Jennings says ACE agrees. “As for ethanol-specific items, the last Farm Bill had a permanent stream of funding for energy and lots of things targeted to
help us advance biofuels, and that’s what we’re also concerned with,” Fuher says. “This bill has a pretty significant amount of resources dedicated toward renewable energy and we’re focused on that as well. We’re going to fight for the largest, most robust funding level we can for these energy programs.” A reduction in programs that restricts resources for the growth of agriculture and renewable energy is a step backwards, he adds. “The ideal Farm Bill would continue and improve successful Farm Bill clean energy programs by helping to advance energy efficiency, on-farm energy production and to increase rewards for environmental benefits that are undervalued in the marketplace,” says Andy
Olsen, senior policy advocate for the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “We would also see substantially more funding, given the widespread popularity of these programs.”
Money, Influence
In 2002, Jennings worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide to a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. He notes that the U.S. was enjoying a budget surplus at that time, contributing to the implementation of an Energy Title. “The other key was that there were forward-thinking senators … who worked to craft the Energy Title,” he says, citing Sens. Thomas Harkin, D-Iowa; Richard Lugar, RSEPTEMBER 2017 | Ethanol Producer Magazine | 29