Coburn, Feinstein Target Ethanol Mandates
Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn seeks to kill ethanol mandate
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, who worked to kill the federal subsidies for ethanol production, has teamed up with California Sen. Dianne Feinstein to end the government mandate on blending ethanol with gasoline.
By Chris Casteel
WASHINGTON — Sen. Tom Coburn, who fought to end the tax subsidy for ethanol production, is now pushing to kill the federal mandate that corn-based ethanol be blended into gasoline.
Coburn, R-Muskogee, has teamed up with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., his ally in the fight against ethanol subsidies, on a bill to end the mandate in the Renewable Fuel Standard for using corn ethanol in gasoline.
“The time to end the corn ethanol mandate has arrived,” Coburn said Thursday.
“This misguided policy has cost taxpayers billions of dollars, increased fuel prices and made our food more expensive. Eliminating this mandate will let market forces, rather than political and parochial forces, determine how to diversify fuel supplies in an ever-changing marketplace.”