Hoosier Ag Today by: Cayla McLeland
Chris Soules Stars in Biofuels Ad
The biofuels industry is making a big push in lieu of the Obama administration?s final ruling on the RFS in the coming days.
In recent weeks, the oil industry has been running large ad campaigns attacking the renewable fuels industry and now Growth Energy is fighting back. CEO Tom Buis says their new campaign, set to run in Indiana, Iowa, Illinois and Ohio is there to inform, not to mislead as he quotes Mark Twain.
?A lie can make it halfway around the world while the truth?s still putting on its shoes. The purpose of these ads and other ads from our industry and other allies is certainly not to let this campaign of misinformation, outdated information, or just made up facts influence the process.?
Iowa farmer, Chris Soules, was featured on the hit television show ?The Bachelor? and ?Dancing With The Stars.? Now, he?s starring in the ads. Soules says he?s excited to be a part of something that directly affects his family and many others.
?Given the things that have occurred recently with Paris, it?s been made very clear that we need to be able to secure our nation?s energy supply and maintain that diversity and support our country in itself and provide those jobs and that stability to the Midwest and farmers all over.?
Buis says with 2015 nearly in the rearview mirror, it?s all eyes ahead to next year.
?We still think it?s the right move for them to get back on the statutory levels. We think it?s the right move for them to be consistent with the intent of the law passed by Congress. And we think it helps this country, again, in so many ways including if The President heads to Paris for the COP21 discussions on carbon reduction.?
The court-ordered deadline for the RFS is set for November 30th.
Growth Energy isn?t the only group taking a stand against anti-biofuels ads.
In response to a multi-million dollar ad campaign from mega oil companies that has begun airing on Indianapolis TV stations, farmer leaders from the Indiana Corn Growers Association call the attack ads misleading distortions of the positive contributions of renewable fuels.
The so called ?Smarter Fuel Future? coalition is behind the ads, which uses junk science and anti-agriculture rhetoric to call for an end to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a federal law passed in 2007 aimed at reducing American dependence on foreign oil.
?Hoosiers should not fall for these misleading ads,? said Indiana Corn Growers Association President Herb Ringel, a farmer from Wabash. ?These ads are deliberately misleading consumers by attacking cleaner burning fuels like ethanol. We need less dependence on foreign oil and more homegrown energy.?
There are numerous falsehoods in the oil attack ad. The ad claims renewable fuels double greenhouse gas emissions and ?threatens? air quality. But studies show the RFS has actually cut carbon emissions by 589.33 million metric tons. The RFS emissions decreases are equivalent to removing more than 124 million cars from the road over the last decade, improving air quality.
Professor Wally Tyner of Purdue University?s Climate Change Research Center says ethanol and biofuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions and benefit Indiana.
?When the RFS program was created, it had three main objectives: reduce dependence on foreign oil, enhance rural economies and incomes, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It has accomplished all of those things,? Tyner said. ?The EPA analysis clearly shows that corn ethanol reduces GHG emissions, and next generation biofuels will reduce them even more.?
The anti-ethanol ad also claims the RFS raises food costs. Just last week, the Congressional Budget Office released a report stating fully implementing the RFS would not dramatically increase food prices.
?With average corn prices lower than they were in 2007 when the RFS went into effect, it is hard to believe that these groups are still trying to make the claim that keeping the RFS intact will have a dramatic impact on food prices,? said Ringel.
The ads were paid for by the American Council for Capital Formation. One of the main financial backers of the Smarter Fuel Future project, which created the ad, is the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association, made up of multi-national oil conglomerates like BP, Chevron, Citgo, ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, Phillips 66, Shell Oil and Valero.
?The reason we have the RFS is American consumers said they wanted homegrown, renewable fuels and this hasn?t changed,? said Ringel. ?Hoosiers know we need less dependence on foreign oil and more production of cleaner burning, homegrown energy. That?s why Indiana farmers and consumers support renewable fuels.?
Indiana ethanol plants produced almost one billion gallons of ethanol in 2014, which directly reduced the consumption of oil. Ethanol supports more than 4,000 jobs in the state in an industry that contributes more than $3.5 billion in total economic activity and revenue to Indiana, especially in rural communities.
Supporters of clean energy have responded to the Big Oil attacks with their own ad. You can view it here.
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