100,000 gift led the attack on ethanol Poultry titan gave Perry group funds, then work for waiver began, records show By R.G. RATCLIFFE Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau A look at Gov. Rick Perry's efforts to seek a waiver from federal corn-based ethanol mandates. • March 25 : Poultry producer Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim meets with Gov. Rick Perry to ask him to seek a waiver from federal mandates for the production of corn-based ethanol. • March 31: Pilgrim donates $100,000 to the Republican Governors Association chaired by Perry. • April 17: Pilgrim speaks to nine Republican governors in closed-door conference on energy in Grapevine. • April 24: Pilgrim's Pride lobbyists and public relations firm Public Strategies meet with Perry's staff on final details of waiver request. • April 25 : Perry formally requests waiver from Environmental Protection Agency. • June 24: Perry attends Washington, D.C., news conference promoting waiver. Event was organized by Public Strategies. Source: Texas Governor's Office, Republican Governors Association AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry's request for a waiver of federal corn-based ethanol production mandates was prompted by a March meeting he had with East Texas poultry producer Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim, who six days later gave $100,000 to the Republican Governors Association chaired by Perry. In the three weeks following that donation, Perry's staff began preparing to submit the renewable fuel standards waiver request to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, according to 596 pages of records obtained from the governor's office by the Houston Chronicle under the Texas Public Information Act. The donation, given March 31, also made it possible for Pilgrim to address nine Republican governors during a closed-door energy conference in Grapevine to explain his belief that ethanol production is driving up feed costs for poultry and livestock producers. Perry aide Allison Castle said political donors get nothing but "good government" from Perry. She said he asked for the waiver because of ethanol's potential negative impact on livestock and poultry producers. Castle said Perry is scheduled to meet with EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson this month. Rising corn prices and other feed grains have driven livestock and poultry producers and some of the nation's largest grocery manufactures to put together a campaign against ethanol, linking the rising price of groceries to the motor fuel additive. The "Food before Fuel" campaign is run by a public relations firm headed by a former spokesman for President Bill Clinton. Study finds other factors Perry's April 25 waiver request has national implications because an EPA waiver of renewable fuel standards would affect all ethanol production in the United States, not just in Texas. On Monday, more than four dozen House Republicans made a similar plea to the EPA, asking for a reduction in ethanol production mandates. Perry pressed for the waiver despite an April 10 Texas A&M study that showed a waiver of federal mandates on ethanol production would have little or no effect in driving down the price of feed corn for poultry and livestock. The A&M study blamed rising corn prices on the cost of oil, global demands for corn and commodities speculation. At Perry's request, A&M did a second study that was released in June. It found that if corn crops were short because of Midwestern flooding, a waiver would significantly lower corn prices. The U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier this week reported that the corn harvest would be smaller than last year but only because fewer acres were planted. When the waiver request was filed, Perry's staff orchestrated a show of support from cattle raisers, pork producers and poultry interests. Perry's staff coordinated preparation of the waiver request with Pilgrim's Pride lobbyist Gaylor Hughey of Tyler and Cliff Angelo with Public Strategies, the firm handling a public relations campaign against ethanol for Pilgrim's Pride and a coalition of meat producers. Talking points prepared for Pilgrim's appearance before the Republican governors were almost identical to ones Public Strategies gave reporters in advance of a June 24 news conference the firm organized for Perry at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. In filing his waiver request, Perry sent a letter to all 22 of his fellow Republican governors asking them to join him. No other state joined the petition before the deadline passed, though opposition to the mandate also came from numerous members of Congress, including Texas Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn. Earlier donation to group This is not the first controversial Republican Governors Association donation involving Perry. Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, who isn't related to the governor, gave the association $1 million during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign. The association then gave a like amount to Gov. Perry. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said he first heard about the potential renewable fuels waiver from a representative of Pilgrim's Pride in February. Staples said he took the issue seriously because the Texas livestock industry in 2006 had $10 billion in cash receipts while the grain industry had just $675 million. Staples said government policies that negatively impact the livestock industry cause far more harm to the Texas economy. Jim Schwertner — president of Capitol Land and Livestock, a cattle dealer that feeds about 7,000 head each day — said he brought Pilgrim into discussions about obtaining the waiver. A Pilgrim's Pride spokesman said Pilgrim and Schwertner worked together to persuade state officials to seek the waiver. Schwertner and Pilgrim met with Perry on March 25. Schwertner said Perry was supportive of seeking the waiver from the start. Corn producer opposition Opposition to grain-based ethanol is not new to Perry. When he announced a $5 million study grant to Texas A&M in 2007 for nonfood ethanol, Perry said: "We don't want to be put in the place of having to decide whether we are going to feed cattle or fuel vehicles." While Perry's staff was in the process of preparing the waiver request, senior adviser Mike Morrissey and agriculture policy expert Toby Baker met with David Gibson, executive director of the Texas Corn Producers Board. The corn producers opposed the waiver. "We never got to talk to anyone at a level higher than that," Gibson said. Gibson said corn producers felt the meat producers were punishing grain growers in a year when
I was reading this earlier today. Typical corruption of the political process by Perry, who's one of the worst governors this great state has had in several decades. Impeach Bush/Cheney.
Regardless of the circumstances, at least someone is trying to put an end to this corn-based ethanol nonsense. Putting food a freaking gas tank while the rest of the world starves is obscene. Maybe it's time to go back to using MTBE. from wiki: The Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed in the House on April 21, 2005, did not include a provision for shielding MTBE manufacturers from water contamination lawsuits. This provision was first proposed in 2003 and had been thought by some to be a priority of Tom DeLay and Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.[16] This bill did include a provision that gives MTBE makers, including some major oil companies, $2 billion in transition assistance as MTBE is phased out over the next nine years.[17] Due to opposition in the Senate,[18] the conference report dropped all MTBE provisions. The final bill was passed by both houses and signed into law by President Bush.[19] The lack of MTBE liability protection is resulting in a switchover to the use of ethanol as a gasoline additive, which is in limited supply as of April 2006. Some traders and consumer advocates are blaming this for an increase in gasoline prices.[20]
QFT. I'm not an ends-justify-the-means kind of guy, but I'd be willing to turn a blind eye to this one.
Agreed. Effectively perminant gound water contamination would cost the country a whole lot more than it would save. We already have a looming water crisis. We don't need to poison all of the aquifers in the USA. What we need to do is make corn ethanol a transition point to switchgrass based ethanol, or something similar as an additave oxidizer.