Governor Blunt says pushing ethanol and bio-diesel doesn’t just help farmers; it helps the state as a whole.
Blunt couches support of ethanol not just in conservation terms, but terms of national security during an address to the Missouri Corngrowers Association. Blunt says the state is supporting corngrowers who are leading the country away from foreign oil, often sold by America’s enemies. Blunt says the new standard set to begin next year, that nearly all gas sold in Missouri contain at least ten percent ethanol, will give a needed boost to the ethanol industry in Missouri. He rejects suggestions that the state doesn’t need to subsidize ethanol. Blunt says critics of the ethanol industry rarely acknowledge the federal tax breaks that subsidize the oil industry.
Blunt touts a recent study that estimates the ethanol and bio-diesel industries will create 7,000 jobs a year over the next ten years. And he says market forces should moderate the price of corn, a big concern for another segment of agriculture: the livestock industry.