More United States politicians are calling for an easing of the
requirement that gasoline must
have nine per cent ethanol.
d
North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue and Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, both
Democrats, have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to grant the
waiver.
“It is now beyond dispute that our nation is undergoing a severe,
prolonged drought that is of historic proportions and is causing widespread
damage to many of the most productive agricultural regions in the country,” Governor Perdue noted in her petition.
Last week, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Delaware Gov. Jack
Markell, both Democrats, issued similar appeals to the EPA.
Arkansas and North Carolina are the second- and fourth-largest broiler
chicken-producing states, respectively. For turkey production, North Carolina
ranks second and Arkansas third nationally.
The governors’ letters join appeals by 156 U.S. House members, 26 U.S. Senators, poultry and livestock producers, the United Nations in favor of granting the
RFS waiver.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has also said the
U.S. ought to relax the requirement because global food prices rose to six per
cent higher than a year ago in July.
And in Ontario, where we have two by-elections underway, there has been nary a sentence of media coverage on the issue. Ontario requires five per cent ethanol in gasoline.
