By Rod Boshart, Special to the Globe Gazette
DES MOINES â Farm interests, fuel retailers and others whipsawed a state Senate panel Thursday over a legislative proposal seeking to push more use of renewable fuels that proponents hailed as an economic boon for Iowa-based industries and critics panned as a government intrusion that would cost drivers more at the pump.
Five members of a Senate Ways and Means subcommittee heard over 75 minutes of impassioned testimony on a bill Gov. Kim Reynolds introduced to promote more ethanol and biodiesel sales in Iowa, but that House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, conceded to reporters âis a difficult pushâ as the 2021 legislative session pushes toward adjournment.
Specter of derecho sidelines tax increase for Iowa forest reserves
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Specter of derecho sidelines tax increase for Iowa forest reserves
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State biofuels mandate gets first airing in Iowa legislature
Governor Kim Reynolds says it’s time for an ethanol mandate in Iowa, to boost an industry battered by the EPA’s resistance to the federal ethanol production mandate.
“It’s such an important industry to our state and to our farmers,” Reynolds said during a Radio Iowa interview. “…We need to take charge of our own destiny.”
Bills introduced in the House and Senate would require Iowa gas pumps to offer at least a 10% ethanol blend by 2024. There’s also a requirement that all diesel fuel sold in the state include a percentage of soybean-based biodiesel. The plan has the support of the biofuels industry and farm groups.