(ICIS) -- The US Senate on Thursday voted
to end a USD 6 bln (EUR 4.26 bln) annual subsidy for corn ethanol. In a 73-27
vote the Senate approved an amendment that would kill the 45 cent/gal taxpayer
subsidy for ethanol blended into the nation’s gasolines.
The amendment also would end the 54 cent/gal tariff on US imports of
foreign bio-ethanol, which has long protected domestic corn ethanol producers
from competition. With the vote, the bipartisan amendment was attached to a
larger bill, S-782, the Economic Development Revitalisation Act, a
small-business development measure.
That legislation was expected to pass in the Senate, but approval by the
US House of Representatives is not certain with the anti-ethanol measure
attached.
There is strong support in the House for the ethanol subsidy, which
supports ethanol production and corn farms in more than a dozen US Midwestern
states.
mrcplast.com
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