McCain Opposes Ethanol Subsidies in Iowa
Republican presidential candidate John McCain visited the Iowa State Fair Friday, shook a lot of hands, but probably didn’t make a lot of friends in corn country when he clearly stated his opposition to subsidizing ethanol production.
“My friends, we will disagree on a specific issue and that’s healthy,” McCain said during a Des Moines Register forum address at the fairgrounds. “I believe in renewable fuels. I don’t believe in ethanol subsidies, but I believe in renewable fuels.”
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and Iowa Farm Bureau Federation President Craig Lang stood beside McCain during his speech and applauded as McCain discussed his views on energy policy, despite the candidates remarks about ethanol in the nation’s top producing state.
McCain touted his “Lexington Project” strategy to achieve energy independence. “It’s got to be wind, tide, solar, nuclear,” he said of his plan, which also includes support for cellulosic ethanol and increasing the number of flex-fuel vehicles on the road.
6 Comments »
kum dollison
Northey, and Lang should resign out of shame.
RichC
I’m a supporter of biofuels too … but continuing to offer subsidies in the face of record prices for corn, grain and petroleum is wrong. Subsidies to agriculture at this point is just pork. If a producer of ethanol or biodiesel can’t compete at $4.00/gallon fuel then their business model is wrong. Ethanol and biodiesel needs to make the move to non-food crops at some point in time … and the sooner the better. (if we’re talking incentives for these kinds of feedstocks, then let’s talk on this subject again)
John Ball
But McCain does not oppose subsidies for petoleum such as tax brakes and military protection. How does he explain that?
Francis Patrick
Pure idiocy. There is nothing wrong with corn based ethanol. With 6 billion people on the planet we can no longer afford to dedicate corn to livestock feed only. All that ethanol uses is the starch and sugars in the plant, the proteins, nutrients and oils remain in the distillers grain. We’re not going to relieve world hunger with corn starch. And American farmers have to stop this practice of dumping unused corn grain on World markets. All that does is forces local farmers off the land in third world countries. That’s why you have food riots.
JM
“Wind, Tide, Solar & Nuclear” yeah at night we can go wind and tide, when the sun comes up we can go solar and nuclear. Good plan. Now that fuel for the internal combustion engine is solved lets move on.
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[...] hear this speech? McCain does it too! Is always the response, but consider this for a minute: Domestic Fuel Archives McCain Opposes Ethanol Subsidies in Iowa Here’s BigMac in Iowa. He has got to win the heartland or he has no chance. does this sound like a [...]
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