Governors Ask Congressional Leadership to Support Ethanol Relief

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sent a letter to leadership in both chambers of Congress asking them to support relief for the biofuels industry. 

The Midwest governors are asking Congress to make sure that relief for the biofuels industry is included in Phase 4 COVID-19 emergency relief package currently making its way through Congress. 

Governor Noem and Governor Walz are the chair and vice-chair of the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition. 

The governors pointed out that nearly three-fourths of the nation’s 204 ethanol plants are fully or partially idled, resulting in workers being laid off, lost markets for farm commodities, and constrained supplies of critical ethanol co-products.

 “We’re pleased to see that two bills were recently introduced in both the Senate and the House,” they wrote in their letter. 

“The Senate’s Renewable Fuel Feedstock Reimbursement Act of 2020, introduced by Senators Grassley and Klobuchar, and the Renewable Fuel Reimbursement Program 

Provision included in the HEROS Act, provide critical emergency relief to renewable fuel producers.” They say these initiatives provide responsible and much-needed economic relief to their states’ biofuel producers. 

“Our states’ ethanol industries have become an irreplaceable contributor to our nation’s economy, and they must be preserved,” the governors concluded.