National Corn Growers Association President Bart Schott has released a statement expressing disappointment in response to Senator Tom Coburn’s amendment to immediately repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit in the small-business program reauthorization bill.
“We are disappointed that Senator Coburn is singling out the ethanol industry in his amendment to immediately repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit while tax credits to the oil and gas industries remained untouched," said Schott. "The American ethanol industry provides and supports 400,000 jobs here in the United States during a time of economic uncertainty. In addition, in the past year alone, ethanol added more than $50 billion to the national Gross Domestic Product and displaced the need for more than 360 million barrels of imported oil, valued at $16 billion.
Schott said that if the amendment passes, the ethanol industry may have to reduce its production by 38%. “That is approximately 4 billion of the 10.75 billion gallons produced in 2009," he said. "This loss in ethanol production would result in the shedding of approximately 112,000 jobs in all sectors of the economy. Can we afford that?"
