Opinion

Even Democrats Have To Admit Trump Is Keeping His Promise On BioFuels

Trump Reuters/Carlo Allegri

Ronnie Shows Former Democratic Congressman
Font Size:

Lord knows that I am no supporter of President Donald Trump, and that I worked hard to help Hillary Clinton win the White House last year. But since I introduced the first-ever ethanol bill in the Mississippi legislature decades ago, I have been a strong supporter of biofuels. I believe in renewables because I support American farmers and other businesses harvesting our natural resources to help diversify our fuel supply while creating jobs and bolstering rural economies.

To be clear, being from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, I am also a strong supporter of the petroleum industry. Oil companies in our region employ thousands of workers, which the importance of cannot be understated. Sadly, today, the unemployment rate in my state is a full half percentage point higher than the national average.

Traditionally, the oil companies have resisted ethanol and other biofuels, because they don’t want gas stations offering someone else’s product. I do understand their point of view. But our national leaders, and elected officials across many states, have decided that it is in our nation’s best interest to require oil companies to blend biofuels into the gasoline they sell. Some supporters back renewables to reduce our dependence on oil, others see national security benefits and many – especially those from the Midwest – see the economic benefits of creating stronger markets for commodities like corn, used to make ethanol. I would say my support of ethanol encompasses all of those reasons.

Which brings me to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the federal law requiring oil companies to blend increasing levels of biofuels into our nation’s fuel supply. The current law passed the Senate by an astounding bipartisan 86-8 vote, and was signed into law by President George W. Bush.

The way the law is written, every year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is tasked with looking at various factors – like biofuel supply levels – to determine how many gallons of renewables must be blended by oil companies into the transportation fuel supply. Because the EPA has some flexibility in determining those levels, setting the RFS levels has become a political hot potato for the Agency.

Over the last few years, the greatest opposition to the RFS has come from a handful of petroleum refiners citing the high cost of purchasing RFS compliance credits. This doesn’t hold water though, since refiners only have to buy credits if they refuse to blend biofuels, and plenty of other refiners are doing just fine and making nice profits while supplying the nation with cleaner transportation fuels. The truth is, it is the older and inefficient plants trying to blame their deeper economic problems on the RFS.

While running for president last year, then-candidate Donald Trump came out in support of America’s farmers, ethanol and the RFS. In Iowa, while campaigning for the Republican nomination, he told Iowans that “[t]he EPA should ensure that biofuel … blend levels match the statutory level set by Congress under the [renewable fuel standard].” In other words, the EPA should raise the levels of biofuels in our transportation fuel supply as required by the RFS. Trump’s support of the RFS continued into the general election, and was a big part of the reason Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Iowa and other Midwest states.

Whether Trump’s support for the RFS and ethanol was sincere, or good politics, I cannot say. What I do know is that the most recent media reporting, and what I hear, is that the President is planning on keeping his commitment on the RFS. To me, this is good news because it is both good policy and nice when a politician – even one I don’t support – keeps his word to the voters.

With the drubbing that Republicans took on the most recent Election Day, I suspect that the GOP and the President best keep their promise on the RFS. Voters understand and have long memories, and Midwestern states will surely play a key role in the next few elections for both the White House and Congress.

Ronnie Shows is a Democrat who represented Mississippi’s 4th congressional district from 1999 to 2003.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel