Klobuchar for Char

On July 14, 2010 Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) co-sponsored a “homegrown” energy bill with Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) that promotes biofuels production. The bill language was originally found linked to a blog post from Growth Energy, and it’s very obvious in the bill that Klobuchar has tailored this fine piece of legislation to the corn ethanol community. The bill contains many terribly bits and pieces for biofuels policy.

For example, the bill dubs corn ethanol as an advanced biofuel, which would allow for corn ethanol to fill the Renewable Fuel Standard’s advanced biofuels mandate in addition to the conventional biofuels mandate. To be clear: Nothing about corn ethanol is advanced. But, Klobuchar’s bill would mean that even though corn production for fuel is one of the dirtiest and most fossil-fuel-intensive processes, it is considered to be one of the “cleaner” biofuels.

The bill also has many of the same components of the infamous Peterson Plan: removes critical components of the global warming lifecycle accounting (the “indirect land use change”) and removes important forest and natural ecosystem protections in bioenergy policy.

And, to make matters worse, it extends the biofuel subsidies completely, including the expensive and wasteful Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC).

Why would Klobuchar pull together a piece of legislation that includes every ask that the biofuel industry comes up with? It’s unclear. She is from corn country, so this is certainly an element. But, farmers are not necessarily keen about biofuel subsidies. Another element is who gives her the moola. Her total career donations from agribusiness net over $200,000. Given this, it is little surprise that this terrible bill would surface under her name.

Friends of the Earth Letter Opposing Klobuchar | Community Letter Opposing Klobuchar