The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association recently thanked the Iowa Congressional delegation for uniting in a "Dear Colleague" letter that was sent to other members of Congress. Purpose of the Iowa delegation sending this letter to other lawmakers is to set the record straight regarding a recent Coordinating Research Council, or CRC, study of E15. The letter sent by the Iowa Congressional delegation calls the recent CRCs study "fundamentally flawed."
The bipartisan letter, authored by Iowa Congressmen Leonard Boswell, Bruce Braley, Steve King, Tom Latham and Dave Loebsack, opened by stating the CRC "recently released a report funded by the oil and auto industries on the effects of E15 and other higher level ethanol blends. This study was fundamentally flawed, and we urge you to consider the valid criticisms of the CRC's methodology."
A bushel of corn produces 17 pounds of ethanol, 17 pounds of carbon dioxide and 17 pounds of feed.
There are several reasons why the CRC study of E15 ethanol lacks credibility
"For example, the U.S. Department of Energy, or DOE, offered some devastating critiques of that research the same day that the industries hailed the release of the CRC report," the letter noted. "Specifically, the DOE said, 'We believe the choice of test engines, test cycle, limited fuel selection, and failure criteria of the CRC program resulted in unreliable and incomplete data, which severely limits the utility of the study.'"
"First, I want to thank the Iowa Congressional delegation for uniting to stand up for the truth about E15," says IRFA executive director Monte Shaw. "E15 is the most tested fuel in history, and the CRC study was purposefully designed to fail," says Shaw. "It's easy to see that the CRC study was just part of Big Oil's attempt to maintain it's near monopoly over consumer fuel choices."
Iowa is the leader in renewable fuels production. Iowa has 13 biodiesel facilities with the capacity to produce 320 million gallons annually. In addition, Iowa has 41 ethanol refineries capable of producing nearly 3.7 billion gallons annually.
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association was formed in 2002 to represent the state's liquid renewable fuels industry. The trade group fosters the development and growth of the renewable fuels industry in Iowa through education, promotion, legislation and infrastructure development. For more information, visit the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association website at www.IowaRFA.org.