The Renewable Fuels Association wasted no time today in congratulating Barack Obama on his victory.

“Throughout this campaign, President-elect Obama has reiterated that American farmers and ethanol producers are a critical component of our national strategy to help reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” RFA said in a news release. “We look forward to working with an Obama Administration and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to ensure the full potential of America’s home grown ethanol industry is realized.”

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is pleased with “the role energy independence played in the 2008 presidential election.” Executive director Toni Nuernberg says that in this time of great uncertainty, it is time for the country to work together. “Our fight for Energy Independence should rival the efforts and sacrifices expended at other critical moments in our nation’s history; times when Americans pulled together not only by rationing and conserving, but thinking creatively, experimenting to develop new innovations and efficiencies, abandoning tradition, and working side‐by‐side to get the job done,” Nuernberg said.

In his so-called “closing arguments” in the Wall Street Journal this week, Obama said he would “invest $15 billion a year over the next decade in renewable energy, creating five million new, green jobs that pay well, can’t be outsourced, and can help end our dependence on Middle East oil.” The ethanol industry is reading that as good news for the next four years.

What will an Obama presidency mean for ethanol and other biofuels?

In August of 2007, when no one was really expecting him to even get the Democratic nomination, Obama headlined the grand opening of VeraSun’s Charles City, Iowa ethanol plant. At the time he said that ethanol “ultimately helps our national security because right now we’re sending billions of dollars to some of the most hostile nations on earth, and makes it more difficult for us to shape a foreign policy that is intelligent and is creating security for the long term.”

About a month ago, Obama granted an interview to farm brodcaster Stewart Doan with Agri-Pulse who quizzed him on a number of agricultural issues, including biofuels. “I’ve been a strong supporter of biofuels in the past and a Renewable Fuels Standard,” Obama said. “What I do believe though is, given the pressure that we’re seeing on food crops and how that’s affecting feed prices, I do think that it is important for us to recognize that we need to move into things like switchgrass and cellulosic ethanol and we need to work with farmers to figure out how can we produce ethanol from non-food sources that would allow farmers to increase their incomes, would continue to improve rural economies, would help us with our dependence on foreign oil and would reduce climate change, but would not put so much pressure on feed prices.”

Listen to the Agri-Pulse interview with Obama here:

Over the past two weeks, key energy advisors to the McCain and Obama presidential campaigns have shared their views on ethanol with Agritalk Radio host Mike Adams.

Heather Zichal, the policy director for energy, environment and agriculture for the Obama campaign spoke on behalf of Senator Obama, while Jim Moseley, former Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture and a member of the McCain-Palin farm and ranch team represented Senator McCain.

The appearances on the syndicated radio program which is heard on 70 stations nationwide were supported by the Renewable Fuels Association in an effort to draw attention to ethanol as an issue in the presidential campaign. RFA president Bob Dinneen said, “Heather and Jim clearly understand the issues and were outstanding representatives for their respective candidates. We thank them both for their participation.”

Full transcripts of each program are available as links below:

Heather Zichal for Senator Obama

Jim Moseley for Senator McCain

The stakeholders of the nation’s largest ethanol producer are asking the presidential candidates to support ethanol.

More than 1,700 POET employees and investors sent an open letter to Senators McCain and Obama urging them to invest in domestic sources of renewable fuels, like ethanol. In the letter, they emphasized the positive impact that ethanol has already made in creating jobs, reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, and helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, they noted that innovations like cellulosic ethanol are just around the corner, making ethanol even cleaner and greener.

“Based on the enormous response to this letter from POET employees and local farmers, it is clear that many Americans will be voting based on their economic and energy interests this year,” said Jeff Broin, CEO of POET. “Ethanol is America’s best renewable fuel, reliable and affordable now and we hope that the next president continues to invest in this homegrown and high-tech energy solution.”

POET has 25 ethanol production facilities in seven states, including several that are still considered “toss ups” in this presidential campaign or are hotly contested, such as Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Ohio.

The letter notes that the ethanol industry created more than 200,000 new jobs across the country, and in 2007, ethanol production contributed $47.6 billion to the nation’s GDP and generated $4.6 billion in federal tax revenues. Further, in 2007, the production and use of biofuels helped the U.S. avoid an estimated 13 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Here at Davis Debate Central once again tonight… OK, so it’s just my couch as I blog with my laptop on my lap and watch the Vice Presidential debate… as Democrat Sen. Joe Biden and Republican Gov. Sarah Palin duke it out.

Renewable energy has gotten a little bit of attention, in the form of Palin and Biden sparring over American energy policy. Palin jabbed with a charge that Biden and Sen. Barack Obama voted to give the big oil companies a tax break, while you and I pay at the pump. Biden countered that the vote she mentioned was also one that had a brad range of alternative energy incentives, designed to wean this country from the influence of foreign petroleum oil.

And just a minute ago, Biden hit again on the renewable energy theme by pointing out that Sen. John McCain has voted 20 times against alternative energy sources.

Palin points out that we need an all-encompassing energy that includes drilling for more petroleum, as well as developing alternative sources.

They’re moving on to other subjects so I’ll get this posted now. Stay tuned. I’ll post more as they say more about renewable energy sources.

In a speech on Wednesday not far from the corn fields of proud Missouri farmers, Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain blamed subsidies for higher food prices.

“My administration will reduce the price of food by eliminating the subsidies for ethanol and agricultural goods,” McCain told an invitation-only group at the Harry Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. “These subsidies inflate the price of food, not only for Americans but for people in poverty across the world, and I propose to abolish them.”

The senator has previously said that he was opposed to the 2008 Farm Bill calling it “a bloated piece of legislation that will do more harm than good for most farmers and consumers.”

McCain has been in the Senate for almost 20 years. Surely he knows that of the $307 billion in spending authorized by the bill through 2012, $209 billion is for nutrition programs and $25 billion is for conservation. Only about $35 billion goes to agricultural commodity programs, including research and market promotion, with just a portion going in direct payments to farmers.

“Agricultural goods” for the most part are food. America has the safest, most affordable and most abundant food supply in the world - and that is due largely to our farm programs. Like any government program, they can certainly stand improvement. But to make a blanket statement that subsidies for agricultural goods are inflating food prices is just unfair. Congress is on the brink of providing $700 billion in “subsidies” for financial institutions that have made bad investments in order to keep them solvent. A few billion to support our nation’s food supply and the development of alternative energy sources to wean us off foreign oil pales in comparison.

Ethanol was a major topic of discussion for members of the National Farmers Union meeting this week in Washington DC.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke to the NFU members by phone and pledged his support for new investments in renewable fuels and other policies that would benefit rural America. Obama also reiterated his support of the Renewable Fuels Standard. “I am strongly committed to advancing biofuels as a key component of reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” he told the NFU members.

“America’s farmers are ready, willing and able to play a vital role in reducing our dependence on foreign oil. With the right policies in place we can continue to feed the world while fueling the future,” NFU President Tom Buis said.

The NFU members also visited the U.S. Department of Agriculture to meet with Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner and other USDA officials. Conner told them that “the corn-to-ethanol equation has to continue to be a key part” of the nation’s energy plans and he will continue to defend it.

The Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy is out to inform the nation’s policy makers that American agriculture is fully capable of producing both food and fuel with no trade off.

The alliance was formed in July and includes Archer Daniels Midland, DuPont, John Deere, Monsanto, and the Renewable Fuels Association. ADM Vice President for Government Relations Greg Webb says because government formulates food and energy policy, it is important that they be well informed. “We think that the alliance will help educate and draw attention to agriculture’s capability to produce and meet increasing demands,” Webb said. “A lot of folks are seeing the increased demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel and they kind of freeze the production capability in time and think that we’ll never produce another pound more than what we do now.”

Alliance representatives attended both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and ads from the alliance were featured in publications at both conventions.

The alliance is trying to make it known through advertising and lobbying efforts that by growing more crops and developing more efficient ways of processing them, we can produce enough to meet the world’s needs for both food and energy. All of the agribusinesses involved are working in that direction by improving seed varieties, crop protection methods, harvesting and processing equipment and techniques.

With ethanol continuing to be such a political issue, it was especially important this election year for the ethanol industry to have a clear presence at both recent political conventions. In this Ethanol Report podcast, Matt Hartwig with the Renewable Fuels Association and Randy Doyle with Al-Corn Clean Fuels in Claremont, MN discuss how and why the ethanol industry was involved in the Democratic and Republican conventions and the AgNite event at the RNC.

You can subscribe to the “The Ethanol Report” podcast by following this link.

Or you can listen to it on-line here:

Delegates to the Republican National Convention this week have adopted a party platform that would essentially end the Renewable Fuels Standard passed by Congress and signed by the president in December as part of comprehensive energy legislation. However, they do support the development of cellulosic ethanol and increased flex-fuel vehicles on the road.

Under the agriculture section, the platform talks about food versus fuel concerns and states that the “U.S. government should end mandates for ethanol and let the free market work.”

Under the energy section, the platform states that we “must continue to develop alternative fuels,
such as biofuels, especially cellulosic ethanol, and hasten their technological advances to next-generation production” and says that “because alternative fuels are useless if vehicles cannot use them, we must move quickly to flexible fuel vehicles.”

The Renewable Fuels Association expressed concern about the Republican platform. RFA President Bob Dinneen called it “inconceivable that the Republican Party would adopt a platform that limits the energy options available to the American people.”

“Fortunately, many leaders in the Republican Party, including the President of the United States, understand the importance of a strong renewable fuels policy,” said Dinneen. “Regardless of the outcome of this year’s elections, the American ethanol industry stands ready to continue working with Congress to provide a clean, safe and secure alternative to foreign oil and gasoline.”

RFA will be among many organizations and companies participating in an AgNite event in conjunction with the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis Tuesday evening, sponsored by the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council. The event is designed to celebrate America’s food, agriculture and energy industries and educate delegates and other attendees about their importance to the nation. Stay tuned for reports from the event here on Domestic Fuel.