Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has become the latest to petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requesting that the Renewable Fuel Standard be waived in light of the current
drought plaguing the Midwest.
The University of Georgia has reported that the
state’s poultry producers are spending $1.4 million extra per day on corn due to
the drought and the upward pressure on corn prices caused by the demand created
by the Renewable Fuel Standard for ethanol. This translates to over $516 million
per year if these market conditions continue, said Deal. “It is abundantly clear
that substantial evidence exists now within the existing reports of the [U.S. Department of Agriculture] regarding expected crop yields
and within private sector forecasts of crop yields that current and futures
pricing of corn will result in severe economic harm in the poultry and livestock
sectors,” he said. “It can also be reasonably projected that this harm will
continue well into 2013, if not beyond 2013, and that the decreasing
availability of stocks of grains will only be eased when a new crop season
provides an abundance of supply.”
Deal is the fifth governor to request that the
agency waive the Renewable Fuel Standard, joining the governors of Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina and Arkansas. His petition comes just a day
after the Environmental Protection Agency said it is issuing a Federal
Register notice opening a 30-day public comment period on waiving the
Renewable Fuel Standard requirements. This statute provides the agency with 90
days in which to make a decision.
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