Twenty-eight food industry groups are urging their member businesses to write letters to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson urging the agency to grant a waiver for the renewable fuel standard (RFS) requirements for ethanol.

 

Currently, refined gasoline sold in the US is required to contain 10 percent ethanol. US farmers are the world’s top ethanol producers, accounting for more than 62 percent of global supplies. But various food companies have long complained that using corn for fuel raises their costs. 

 

“This year’s drought is already having an impact on corn demand and will likely continue impacting commodity prices, including wheat, into 2013,” the American Bakers Association (ABA) says on its website. 

 

“The RFS may have been a well-intentioned effort to move our country toward energy independence, but it has, predictably, done more harm than good,” says Texas Governor Rick Perry. “Not only is it driving up grocery prices for all families, it is also putting increasing strain on business.” 

 

Several other governors have joined Perry and the food industry groups in calling for a waiver.