Message exchanges reveal tensions among ethanol groups

AgWeek
Jerry Hagstrom, Agweek
Published: 10/19/2009

WASHINGTON — A nasty exchange of messages among the National Corn Growers Association, the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy, the ethanol lobbying group headed by South Dakota-based ethanol plant builder and owner Jeff Broin and former Gen. Wesley Clark, has led to splits among the groups and revelations about why Broin and a handful of other ethanol leaders left RFA to form Growth Energy.

The messages have revealed that Broin and others established Growth Energy in 2008 because they did not think the NCGA and the RFA were lobbying hard enough for ethanol. Broin, Clark and Tom Buis, their Washington lobbyist, also are making the case that they have defended the industry and are pursuing its goals more vigorously than the other groups in the last two years.

Read the full story