More RFA Testimony on the Hill

RFA President Bob Dinneen testified before the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Water Thursday about the energy security benefits and economic opportunities that are being created by the growth of America’s domestic ethanol industry.

Dinneen stressed the important role infrastructure and technology will play in the expansion of biofuels nationwide and how America’s domestic ethanol producers are already providing significant economic, environmental and energy security benefits for the country.

In an overall environment of slowing economic growth, the U.S. ethanol industry stands out in sharp contrast. According to a report soon to be released from economist John Urbanchuk of LECG, LLC, the American ethanol industry is a job creating engine. The increase in economic activity resulting from ongoing production and construction of new ethanol capacity supported the creation of 238,541 jobs in all sectors of the economy during 2007. These include more than 46,000 additional jobs in America’s manufacturing sector — American jobs making ethanol from grain produced by American farmers.

Ethanol is also helping to stem the tide of global warming, today. The use of low carbon fuels like ethanol is reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the more than 200 million cars on American roads. The 9 billion gallons of ethanol we will produce in 2008 will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 14 million tons, or the equivalent of taking 2.5 million vehicles off the road. These benefits will only increase as new technologies, new feedstocks and new markets for renewable fuels are created.

Read the entire testimony here.