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GOP lawmakers want ethanol requirements reduced
By DINA CAPPIELLO
Associated Press
July 1, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than four dozen House Republicans asked the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to reduce required ethanol production this year, saying renewable fuel standards enacted by Congress will boost already high corn prices in the wake of Midwest floods.

"The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is a significant factor in the increased cost of commodities, which is causing severe economic harm for low-income Americans and livestock producers," the 51 lawmakers, led by Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, senior Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, said in a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

"The (Bush) administration can immediately impact the supply of corn that will be used for food and feed and lessen the severe economic harm facing millions of Americans," Goodlatte and the others wrote.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked EPA in April to cut by half a requirement in last year's energy law to produce 9 billion gallons of ethanol in 2008 for blending into gasoline. That's 30 percent to 35 percent of the nation's corn crop this year, the Agriculture Department says.

Corn prices have surged more than 80 percent in the past year due to sharp increases in global demand to feed people and livestock and to make ethanol for gasoline blends.

Recent flooding in the Midwest and drought in the South reducing this year's corn crop will only add to the supply pressure. The Agriculture Department reported Monday that farmers will harvest 9 percent fewer acres of corn this year in part because of the flooding.

A 2005 energy law allows individual states to seek a reduction in the renewable fuel standard if they can show it will harm the economy or environment. An EPA decision on Texas' appeal is expected in July.

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