Ethanol boosters in D.C.

Iowa corn growers and ethanol-industry representatives are gathered in Washington for a two-day rally on behalf of the Renewable Fuels Standard in the energy bill. Lucy Norton of the Iowa Corn Board says requiring more renewable energy opens the door for the use of ethanol made from Iowa grain. She says that’s a way to reduce imported oil and could expand and maybe even double nationwide demand for ethanol by the year 2015. Norton says the growers and backers talking this week with Iowa’s congressional delegation want to make sure the politicians know where the industry is today. She says it can supply a lot of ethanol, and the renewable fuels standard should call for using the amount the industry can produce today. Norton says the Renewable Fuels Standard could require use of as much as five-BILLION gallons of ethanol, once the measure is fully implemented. She says that’ll replace one-point-six billion barrels, about five-percent of what we’re importing right now, and Norton says we’ve been importing about half the oil the US needs, more all the time. Norton says cutting our dependence on foreign oil would improve the country’s “energy security.” The delegation beginning its second day in Washington today also hopes to dispel myths about ethanol, like the claim that it takes more energy to MAKE it than we get from using it — something Norton says is a kind of “urban legend,” but not true.