Ethanol industry says AP is in the pocket of ‘Big Oil.

The ethanol industry is firing back against the Associated Press after an investigative report that casts serious doubt on ethanol’s environmental benefits.

After months of investigative reporting, the AP released its findings that the federal mandate to blend ethanol into the fuel supply is harming the environment.

“We are trying to make sure that people understand the rest of the story,” said Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. “We are going through this article point by point by point and refuting opinions with facts… And I think when the whole story is out there, people will see this for what it it.”

“It’s just another attempt by people that don’t want to reduce our dependence on oil — that are satisfied with the status quo, that want to see cheap corn — trying to pull the wool over the consumers eyes, and I don’t think it works in the end,” Dinneen added.

Oil industry representatives have denied involvement in the AP’s report, arguing that the ethanol industry is simply resorting to using them as a scapegoat for their failed policies.

“We had nothing to do with this report, AP is not in our pocket,” said Charlie Drevna, president of the the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers. “What we’re seeing now is that the folks in the ethanol industry and their allies in Congress have been trying to shift the debate to be about Big Oil.”

Ethanol backers said that the primary reason for the loss of conservation land was action by Congress lowering the amount of land allowed for conservation status, not increased ethanol production.

The industry also pointed to a non-peer reviewed Dutch study that found that urban sprawl is more responsible for wiping out conservation lands than ethanol production. However, that study said that “biofuel expansion is the dominant cause of agricultural land use loss.”

“The AP’s reporting on this important topic is a result of months of work and review of documents, and interviews of experts and people on all sides of the public policy debate about this energy resource,” said Mike Oreskes, the AP’s vice president and senior managing editor. “We stand behind our reporting and welcome further insights and discussion.”

The AP said it carefully examined data from the Agriculture Department and excluded land affected by congressional actions to lower the allowable amount of conservation land. Their numbers and methodology were vetted by an independent scientist at South Dakota State University.

The news group found that 5 million acres that were conservation grasslands in 2006, the year before the ethanol mandate was dramatically expanded, were converted to corn production in 2012.

The AP’s report carries huge implications. There is already strong bipartisan support to reform the ethanol mandate and the Environmental Protection Agency has suggested that they may lower blending requirements for next year.

“I’ll be shocked if I don’t hear that the EPA is in the pocket of ‘Big Oil’,” Drevna added.

Such action carries huge economic consequences for the ethanol industry. The AP notes that Growth Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association and the National Corn Growers Association “together spent more than $834,000 on lobbying the U.S. government from July through September… lobbying in both Congress and the executive branch — including the EPA — over issues like ethanol fuel standards and tax policy.”

Another pro-biofuels group, Fuels America, “spent $120,000 during that third-quarter period lobbying for renewable energy rules” according to the AP.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/11/12/ethanol-industry-says-ap-is-in-the-pocket-of-big-oil/#ixzz2kYq7ptkg