ETHANOL EFFORTS RUNNING ON EMPTY

Ethanol's support from the President apparently seems to be running out of gas. As a strong ethanol supporter, I was shocked to recently learn of the administration's decisionj to consider the reduction or even outright repeal of the motor fuels tax exemption for ethanol. Federal Highway Administrator Rodney Slater recently made that case before the House Public Works and Transportation Committee. Such an action could shut down our nation's ethanol industry overnight.

Seems evertime we turn around, the farm community is having to fight another ethanol battle. On one side, the evidence supporting ethanol use continues to stack up on the side of Missouri's corn production industry. However, a strindent, professional environmental community, falsely claiming that ethanol harms the environment, is also exercising tremendous influence on this administration.

In recenty months, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also sought to erase ethanol's inclusion in federal Clean Air Act regulations. The EPA's currently proposed federal regulations could undermine the future of a promising domestic ethanol industry -- which will help make us independent of foreign energy sources and keep those oil dollars at home.

I recently joined my colleagues from corn-producing regions in an effort to urge the President to reconsider this effort to undermine the ethanol industry. Reducing the ethanol fuels tax exemption will destroy ethanol production and related jobs along with robbing the Missouri farmer of a golden domestic market opportunity.

Independence from foreign oil sources, cleaner air, higher corn profits, and job creation right here in our own backyard is what ethanol brings to Missouri's farming industry, With our agricultural, labor, and infrastructure resources here in Southern Missouri -- i intende to see that our government continues to support ethanol use and the related job-creating benefits this renewable fuel source adds to Missouri's local communities.