House Passes Energy Bill With Higher Ethanol Mandates

<div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u2/ethanol125.jpg" title="ethanol" alt="ethanol" height="81" hspace="4" vspace="4" width="125" /></div>Corn growers won in the passage of the energy bill in the House yesterday. The bill doubles the mandate for ethanol (made from corn) to 15 billion gallons by 2015. <br /><br />"Well, there's no question we're excited," National Corn Growers Association Ron Litterer told the <a href="http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=B17A6AAA-CB1B-5481-79B4690BDD2DA275" target="_blank">Brownfield Network</a> . "We've been advocating for a long time that we can do a 15 billion gallon RFS and this is our first step in getting that done."<br /><br />The National Pork Producers Council and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association opposed the higher mandates. Both groups use grain as a feedstock — and grain costs have nearly doubled in the last year. <br />The bill now goes to the Senate.