Sen. Grassley Calls Out Food Industry
Posted: May 15, 2008
Yesterday we reported on the food industry’s paid effort to smack down the renewable fuels standard, as reported in Roll Call. Today, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) in a statement to the Senate floor decried the “‘group think’ mentality when it comes to scapegoating ethanol for everything from high gas prices, global food shortages, global warming and deforestation.”
In his statement, Grassley notes:
I think it’s important for policy-makers and the American people to know who’s behind this effort. According to reports, downtown D.C. lobbyists, the Glover Parker Group and Dutko Worldwide, are leading the effort to undermine and denigrate the patriotic achievement of America’s farmers to reduce our dependence on foreign oil while also providng safe and affordable food.
Thanks, Sen. Grassley, for posting both the proposal request and the agency response online and exposing the disinformation campaign. The food industry proposal request authored by former enviromental activist Scott Faber is good reading and provides the facts on what we have speculated on in this blog, namely, that industry has three goals: to rollback the “current corn ethanol mandate”; to stop ongoing efforts to increase the “current corn ethanol mandates from 15 to 20 or 22 billion gallons”; and to stymie state efforts to mandate that all gasoline include 10 percent or more ethanol.
You get real insight to this insidious campaign when you take a look at the objectives and tactics the Glover Parker Group has employed: …obliterate whatever intellectual justification might still exist for corn-based ethanol … our strategy depends on sparking a high-volume, intense political battle.
That it has. Fortunately, Sen. Grassley is one to call a spade a spade.
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Gary Dikkers Said,
May 15, 2008 @ 4:02 pm
Mimi,
Big Corn and Big Ethanol have lobbyists. Why do you think it wrong for the food industry to have the same?
As you well know, lobbyists are paid to promote an agenda for their clients. There’s nothing evil or sinister about that, and in fact the food industry makes a good point that the RFS increases food prices.
They shouldn’t be malicious or lie about the facts, but it is certainly an area deserving national debate.
Gary,
Allow me to comment here. I do not think it is wrong for Big Food to have lobbyists. In fact, a national debate on corn ethanol has been underway for several years. Debate ensued around the Energy Policy Act of 2005 in which the renewable fuels standard was placed. Debate sparked and grew last year as Congress deliberated passage of the 2007 energy bill that increased the RFS.
And for once you and I see eye to eye on something: They shouldn’t be malicious or lie about the facts. In fact, they are. Scott Faber has been intentionally distorting the facts to Congress and the public. Sen. Grassley hit the nail on the head when pointed to the group-think mentality that is occurring to scapegoating ethanol for everything from high gas prices, global food shortages, global warming and deforestation.