(Superior)– Congressman Randy Feenstra of Hull made several stops in the region Wednesday, including one at Green Plains Superior where he met with leadership and employees. Among the issues he addressed is the divide between electric vehicles and those powered by ethanol…
“You know there’s data, there’s facts to show that ethanol is still the cleanest form of energy. When you look at putting a car together, the battery and all that stuff, I mean if we’re truly going to do what’s best for the environment, ethanol is the way to go. We’ve got to push our agenda and we have to make sure people understand that. We have to get year-round E-15. That’s sort of the push that I have. We have to do more on the export market when it comes to ethanol. These are big issues and these can be included in the Farm Bill that’s coming up. So the Farm Bill’s coming up this year and these are a couple of things that I’ll be working with for that Farm Bill.”
Feenstra says he’s received assurances one in a series of hearings on the proposed farm bill will be held in Iowa…
“I had the chairman of the Agricultural Committee, G.T. Thompson, I had him at the Farm Progress Show, had him at the state fair. He loves Iowa and he told me hey, I’m going to commit to doing a hearing right here in Iowa. I’d love it to be in western Iowa. If I had to guess it would probably be in Ames, but you know what, anywhere in Iowa would be great. What are you looking at as far as a possible timeframe for getting a bill passed? Yeah, so we’re going to have our hearings starting the end of January, here. We just had one in Pennsylvania, so we’ll have them January, February March. We’ll have our hearings, April, and then start writing the policy this summer. We look to having it passed probably in October. The food assistance part of it, the SNAP program, that has always been the controversial part over the last eight years in the last two farm bills, so we’re hoping that we can put something like that to bed early on and make sure we get it passed.”
Going back to renewable fuels, Feenstra added the proposed carbon pipeline projects would be extremely valuable in helping ethanol producers lessen their carbon footprint, but, at the same time, he says the companies should not be using eminent domain to accomplish that mission…
“It adds value to ethanol and biodiesel plants. Every other row of corn or soybeans goes to either ethanol or biodiesel, so if we can have them successful that’s huge for our producers. That being said, they’re still a private company and the government should not intrude by using eminent domain. I think there’s got to be a way that the private sector works with the producer and comes up with a solution to put in the pipeline. If a parcel refuses to, a producer refuses to, then they should go around. I just don’t think eminent domain should be used.”
Feenstra, who also now serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, spoke of the importance of continuing several tax credit programs which are scheduled to sunset soon.
Congressman Randy Feenstra and employees of Green Plains Superior
