Senator Tom Harkin is demanding an answer from President Bush over an anti-ethanol statement made last week by a Bush administration official.Last Thursday, Environmental Protection Agency deputy administrator Linda Fisher said it may be time for Congress to eliminate the oxygenate standard in the Clean Air Act which requires use of a fuel additive like corn-based ethanol.Harkin says the statement raises deep concerns about the Bush Administration’s commitment to ethanol. He wants Bush to affirm that commitment.Harkin says having the E-P-A deny California’s waiver request to get out of the ethanol mandate would amount to nothing if the oxygenate standard is dumped. He says it would be devastating to Iowa farmers and a big economic blow to Iowa.Harkin says domestically produced ethanol can enhance America’s energy security and increase farm income.
