WASHINGTON IS IN THE MIDST of a food fight–a “food versus fuel” fight to be more exact. At issue is the Energy Independence and Security Act that mandates the use of 36 billion gallons of biofuels between now and 2022. That schedule is known as the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). The concept of mandating 36 billion gallons (up from actual production of 5 billion gallons at the time, and a projected 7.5 billion gallons by 2012) was put forth by President Bush in his 2007 State of the Union speech; the Democratic majority in Congress passed it 10 months later in December 2007.
Now, halfway through 2008, there are regrets about the RFS–at least in some quarters. Governor Rick Perry of Texas–George W. Bush’s former lieutenant governor–has asked for a waiver of this mandate. So has Jodi Rell, Republican governor of Connecticut (the state President Bush’s grandfather once represented in the U.S. Senate). The way the law is written, states can petition for waivers based on economic harm to their state or region. Waivers won’t come easy–it is the Bush administration that grants them, and everyone from the president down has publicly defended the biofuels policy.
