WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released an energy plan on Thursday that supports Washington’s ethanol quota, a mandate several U.S. governors want to suspend as the worst drought in over 50 years sends corn prices to record levels.
Governors from North Carolina, Arkansas, Georgia and New Mexico, where large numbers of livestock are reared, have petitioned the Obama administration to waive the mandate which they say raises prices for corn, an important animal feed.
The grain is also the main stock for making U.S. ethanol.
The five-year old Renewable Fuels Standard, or RFS, signed into law by then-President George W. Bush, requires more than 13 billion gallons of grain-based ethanol to be blended into gasoline this year and more in coming years.
Romney’s energy plan would “support increased market penetration and competition among energy sources by maintaining the RFS and eliminating regulatory barriers” to diversify the power grid, the fuel system and vehicle fleets. The plan did not detail how Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, would support the ethanol mandate.
President Barack Obama, a Democrat, has also been a strong supporter of ethanol, which provides jobs in Iowa and other swing states that will be central in the Nov. 6 presidential election.
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