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Local Farmer Reacts to Status Quo for Ethanol
Agriculture leaders -- including one from the immediate area -- say they're disappointed but not surprised about a recent decision by the federal government on ethanol.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided to postpone an increase from 10 percent to 15, the amount of ethanol that must be contained in gasoline, saying more time is needed to make sure that the average vehicle can still run properly on that type of blend.

Rob Elliott of Cameron is president of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, and says the E.P.A. could have done plenty different -- perhaps even requiring a smaller increase.

"There's an area called substantially-similar E-12 or 15 or something inbetween...would have been a nice inbetween spot to allow...just a little bit of additional blend, which would have given a little breathing room to the industry," Elliott said.

Elliot says he hopes that a decision will be made to increase the blend standard to 15 percent next year; the current 10 percent blend requirement has been in place since 1978.

He says while he understand why the E.P.A. didn't touch the standard just yet, any move upward will be extremely beneficial to corn farmers and to ethanol plants.

Elliott's farm is located outside of Cameron in rural Warren County.
12 04 09 by Newsroom
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