Ethanol use benefits seen in rural districts

There’s consensus on ethanol among the candidates for state representative seats in two rural Missouri districts: It’s good for farmers, good for the country and good for the economy, they say, but there’s not much more the state can do — at least for now — to encourage its use.

The General Assembly and Gov. Matt Blunt this year approved a law requiring that all gasoline sold in the state contain a blend of at least 10 percent ethanol by 2008, as long as the cost of the so-called E-10 fuel is no higher than regular gasoline.

That’s a good thing, candidates in the heavily rural 9th and 21st districts say, but they add that ethanol is not a panacea for U.S. reliance on foreign oil.

Corn is the key ingredient in ethanol, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates Missouri farmers will harvest 2.6 million acres of corn this year. That means about 5 percent of the state is covered in corn during the growing season.

Kathyrne Harper, the Republican candidate for 9th District state representative, said promoting the use of ethanol “is an easy choice because it’s good for the farmer and good for the environment.” Still, Harper said the state must be cautious about further ethanol requirements.

“I’m interested in researching higher ethanol blends, but we need to make sure we can meet the demands of the E-10 standard,” Harper said.

Harper’s opponent, Democrat Paul Quinn, said he has witnessed first-hand the benefits of ethanol use.

“Any time we can promote agriculture, because it’s one of the major industries in this state, it’s a good idea,” he said, but he added that Missouri doesn’t yet produce enough ethanol to do anything more than the E-10 requirement.

Democrat Skip Elkin, who is running against Republican incumbent Steve Hobbs in the 21st District, is an ethanol advocate. He’d like to see the state and county governments require the use of ethanol in their fleets.

Hobbs said it will be late 2007 before the state can produce enough ethanol to fulfill the E-10 requirement. Missouri, he said, remains a few years away from being able to do anything more and must first ensure the current ethanol program works the way it’s intended.

Hobbs, who grows corn on his 1,400-acre Audrain County farm, said ethanol thus far has been a boon to agriculture. He said he’d like to require that all ethanol sold in the state be made from Missouri corn.

“There’s excitement in the farming community; they have been re-invigorated,” Hobbs said.

But Ben Austic, commodities supervisor for Northeast Missouri Grain near Macon, the first ethanol plant in the state, said he thinks ethanol is beneficial but not a “silver bullet.” He warned that a limited Missouri corn supply could cause ethanol prices to rise as demand increases.

Price is the big issue for many voters as they consider whether to pump ethanol blends into their vehicles. Although the alternative fuel is generally cheaper than regular gas, the fact that it yields lower mileage is problematic.

Jim Cullifer, a retired General Motors employee from Paris, Mo., said he uses E-10 in some of his cars. “I support the use of ethanol, but it doesn’t get good gas mileage, and the lower price — it doesn’t balance out.”

Quinn said ethanol’s lower mileage is outweighed by “the overall picture of trying to keep away from dependence on foreign oil.”

The fact that Hobbs co-sponsored and voted in favor of ethanol legislation has stirred some debate in the 21st District race because he and his father own stock in an ethanol company. Elkin said that’s an obvious conflict of interest.

“If all officials pushed initiatives that benefited them financially, the legislature would be a mess,” Elkin said. “I wouldn’t have voted on it or sponsored it.”

Hobbs, however, said that he’s been up-front about his ethanol interest. He backs the legislation because he believes it’s in the interest of his district and because he’s knowledgeable about the issue, he said.

“We prize experts in the system. We need those votes,” Hobbs said. “If experts can’t vote on issues, we won’t get anything done.”