Ethanol fund running out of gas

[LiberalAndProud]

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2004/12/10/nebraska/doc41b9518d6e9ec299282821.txt

BY ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star
Nebraska's ethanol industry, which has accelerated from idle to Indianapolis 500 speeds over the past 10 years, is running under a caution flag as it heads into the 2005 legislative session.

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The approximately 2,200-member Corn Growers is especially resistant to strategies that would hand it more of the bill, said Executive Director Scott Merritt.

He also pointed to adjustments in a funding formula that still include some dollars from nonfarming taxpayers, but not as many as grain producers are kicking in.

What was once a 50-50 arrangement is now closer to 70-30, according to Merritt's math.

"That's probably really the issue that has to be watched," he said.

Others, including Doug Durante of the Washington-based Clean Fuels Development Coalition, think putting some sort of incentive back in place is more important.

"It, like, opened the doors for business," Durante said of past success. "You put out an incentive and you built a ton of plants. It worked."

That's not to say that Durante can't see a rationale for distributing the cost of the incentive beyond the farm sector.

He pointed to "tax revenue, jobs created, and all the benefits that flow from that."