Ethanol industry 'to do their part' with economy, budget

Hoosier Ag Today Midwest Producer
Posted: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 8:31 am

The end of another year is near and again the expiration of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, or VEETC, is near. But this time there is no movement to extend the credit. In the age of deficit reduction work, it's obvious that credit is on its way out.

Bob Dinneen of the Renewable Fuels Association gives credit to the ethanol industry for not trying to extend it.

"They recognize the economic situation that the country is facing, that the government is facing, and they know everybody has to do their part. We look at the situation and recognize that the marketplace has changed pretty fundamentally. You're now looking at sustained $85-100 barrel oil, and quite frankly at that level it's a little hard to ask the taxpayer to provide a gasoline marketer with an incentive to blend ethanol when the marketplace is already providing that incentive."

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