Record high fuel prices are hitting everyone hard. As farmers go into the field this spring to plant, they are feeling the pinch too. Fortunately, farmers, and the ethanol they produce, are playing a role in reducing our high energy costs.

Ethanol is helping to combat high energy prices and Congress must continue to invest in it. A recent study, found that removal of ethanol mandates would cause a $1.13 per gallon to increase in the price of regular gasoline. In other words, ethanol is saving the typical American family an average of $1,033 per year. 

Increased investment in ethanol not only increases farm incomes and rejuvenates rural economies, but also helps to wean ourselves off foreign oil. In my mind ethanol is a triple play. It’s good for consumers. It’s good for our environment. And it’s good for farmers and rural communities.

However, ethanol is only part of the solution to ending our dependence on foreign oil and reducing energy prices. For a long term solution to the high cost of energy, we must also go after the energy we have in our own backyard. We have billions of barrels of oil in Alaska and off the coastal shelf that we are currently not allowed to go after. Until we do so, we will not be able to truly address our rising energy costs.

Congress must pass real energy legislation that reduces our dependence on foreign oil by focusing on the oil and the ethanol we have here at home.

 

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