House Takes Up Fuel Mandate

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is considering a proposal that would nearly double ethanol use in motor fuel by 2015 as part of a broad U.S. energy bill.

The House proposal would boost U.S. ethanol use from 2.7 billion gallons in 2005 to 5 billion gallons in 2015.

The House plan would allow states to request a waiver from the program to avoid "significant adverse consumer impacts" to an area.

The proposal would also award credits to U.S. oil refiners, blenders and importers that use more ethanol than required by law. The credits could be traded or sold to other companies to reduce the cost of compliance.

The House panel is expected to approve the energy bill within the next few days and the Senate Energy Committee is scheduled to begin writing its version of the bill soon.

Editors note: Richard Brock, The Corn and Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.

To see more market perspectives, visit Brock's Web site at www.brockreport.com.