Dear Senator,

We are writing this letter to urge you to end government support for the ethanol regime by supporting both Senator Coburn’s Amendment #436 and Senator DeMint’s Amendment to S. 782, the Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011. Together, these two amendments would end the three policies that inflate American ethanol consumption—the Renewable Fuel Standard (ethanol mandate), The Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC), and the import tariff.

Even after increasingly supporting the ethanol industry since the 1970s, ethanol consumption is still largely predicated on government programs, not consumer preference. Ethanol’s advantageous treatment has skewed America’s energy market and crippled the industry making it reliant on federal handouts.

Neither reducing national gasoline prices nor meaningfully mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, there is little justification for the American people to continue to prop-up the ethanol industry. For much of the past thirty years, a gallon of ethanol has been more expensive than a gallon of gasoline. Furthermore, ethanol contains one-third less energy than gasoline making it substantially less efficient.

Only in an energy market so convoluted with duplicative regulations and preferential laws could ethanol be so ubiquitous. What fuel Americans use should be dictated by the free market and consumer choice, not government mandates. It is imperative that we begin peeling back the numerous policies which facilitate certain types of energy while inhibiting others. Repealing the ethanol mandate, VEETC and import tariff would go a long way towards achieving this end.  

Sincerely,
American Conservative Union, Al Cardenas, Chairman
Americans for Prosperity, Tim Phillips, President
Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, President
Competitive Enterprise Institute, Myron Ebell, Director
Citizens for Limited Taxation (MA), Chip Faulkner, Associate Director
Citizen Rep. Holmes Norton (D-DC) Waste, Tom Schatz, President
Freedom Action, Myron Ebell, Director
Human Events, Thomas S. Winter, Editor-in-Chief
National Center for Public Policy Research, David A. Ridenour
National Taxpayers Union, Andrew Moylan, VP of Government Affairs
Tea Party W DC, Lisa Miller, Founder

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Posted by Chris Prandoni on Thursday, June 16, 2011 6:05 PM EDT

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