McCain vows to end US ethanol tariff, subsidies

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--The campaign of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Thursday will elaborate on his pledge to end the US tariff on ethanol imports and eliminate federal subsidies for the biofuel.

McCain called for the end of the tariff and subsidies during the last presidential debate of the 2008 election on Wednesday.

The Arizona senator said that allowing Brazilian ethanol to enter the US tax-free was one of the steps that needed to be taken to start weaning the US off Middle Eastern and Venezuelan crude oil imports.

McCain’s campaign will discuss now his views on renewable energy on agricultural radio programme AgriTalk.

Illinois senator Barack Obama’s campaign appeared on the programme on 7 October.

An Obama campaign representative said the Democrat supported biofuels but opposed ending the tariff or eliminating subsidies for ethanol.

Obama’s campaign claimed that the 45-cent/gal blenders’ tax credit for ethanol can save US families as much as $300/year (€222/year) in fuel costs.

The campaign representative also said the 54-cent/gal US tariff on imported ethanol was important because it helped protect and “nurture” the US biofuels industry.

($1 = €0.74)

For more on ethanol visit ICIS chemical intelligence
Bookmark Simon Robinson’s Big Biofuels Blog for some independent thinking on biofuels

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