Sen. Grassley: Ethanol Wrongly Blamed

AgWeb.com
5/16/2008
Pro Farmer Editors

To Congressional colleagues yesterday, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Ia.), said ethanol and alternative fuels have helped to lessen our dependency on foreign oil and are being made the scapegoat for a variety of problems. He said a negative campaign by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), which sought help of a public relations firm, tried to lay blame on corn-based ethanol to try and rollback the ethanol mandates in the energy bill approved late in 2007. The issue was first alerted in the Washington publication Roll Call. Grassley noted the GMA paid $300,000 to a Washington PR firm to run the effort.

"Some of my colleagues here in the Senate have also gotten involved in this misinformation campaign," said Grassley. "It seems there is a “group-think” mentality when it comes to scapegoating ethanol for everything from high gas prices, global food shortages, global warming and deforestation. But, as was recently reported, this anti-ethanol campaign is not a coincidence. It turns out that a $300,000, six-month retainer of a beltway public relations firm is behind the smear campaign, hired by the Grocery Manufacturers Association."

Read the full story