Republican presidential contender Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas defended his stance on ethanol, an important campaign issue for the Iowa caucuses.
He said the spin that he is against ethanol is not true. Cruz said his fight is with the Environmental Protection Agency’s ethanol mandate, which he argues imposes an artificial subsidy for the renewable fuel. Iowa is one of the nation’s largest corn ethanol producers.
“It is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince [Iowans] that somehow I oppose ethanol,” Cruz said. “It’s not true.”
“I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years,” he said. “But that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for everyone.”
He said he is against Washington “picking winners and losers. There should be no mandates and no subsidies whatsoever.”
The EPA ethanol standard, or Renewable Fuel Standard, requires refiners to blend ethanol and other biofuels into the gasoline and diesel fuel supply.
“There is a much more important … regulation and that is the EPA’s blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline,” Cruz added.
“I will tear down the EPA’s blend wall, which will enable ethanol to expand its market share up to 60 percent all without mandates … through the marketplace,” he said.
It is not clear what Cruz is trying to say about the phenomenon known as the “blend wall.” The so-called “blend wall” was coined by the oil industry to describe the point at which ethanol can no longer be blended safely into the gasoline supply without risking significant damage to vehicle engines. It is not commonly referred to as a problem created by the EPA.
The statement invoked a famous speech by former President Ronald Reagan for the leader of the Soviet Union to “tear down this wall” that divided East and West Germany after World War II.
Dr. Ben Carson when asked to respond to his support for ethanol said, “I am very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives.”
But in regard to the Renewable Fuel Standard, he said it would be “unfair to withdraw the rug because investments have been made.” He suggested he would support the mandate until it reaches its 2022 goal of blending 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels into the nation’s gasoline and diesel supply.
