Ethanol favored, opposed in Senate

PEORIA —It was just another week in the ethanol industry - winning an endorsement from NASCAR one day and running into both Senatorial support and opposition for ethanol tax incentives the next.

Seventeen U.S. senators signed a letter calling ethanol "fiscally indefensible" and "environmentally unwise." Written by Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the letter expressed opposition to Congress extending the 45-cents-per-gallon tax credit for blending ethanol into gasoline that's due to expire at the end of the year.

Another group of 15 senators led by Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., later urged that ethanol tax incentives be extended.

Over the weekend, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., called for the ethanol tax credit to be extended for one year at a reduced rate of 36 cents a gallon.

The fact Baucus, who serves as Senate finance chairman, would support extension of the tax credit is positive news, said Stephanie Dreyer, spokeswoman for Growth Energy, a Washington, D.C-based biofuels advocacy group.

"It's unclear at this point what the Senate will do. There is a lot of support for moving forward with extension (of ethanol tax credits) but there's also opposition," she said.

While the Senate takes on the ethanol issue, NASCAR announced that, starting with the Daytona 500 in February 2011, race cars will be fueled with E15, a blend that includes 15 percent ethanol.

"There is nothing more American than NASCAR and there is no fuel more American than ethanol," said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis in a release accompanying the announcement.

source: pjsta