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MacXever/iStock/Thinkstock New nominees for EPA, Department of Interior and climate advisers could bring new direction in addressing the changing climate.
President-elect Joe Biden has made it clear from day one he intends to lead with action on the climate. And now he’s filling his climate team with some familiar faces and some new ones that could bring a change to agriculture.
“We have a good idea of the vision President-elect Biden is trying to accomplish. And as it relates to agriculture it is positive,” says Ethan Lane, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s vice president of government affairs. The concern comes in when the progressive left of the party tries to take actions further.
December 18, 2020
IARN Leaders in the US ethanol industry are expressing disappointment after the Brazilian government imposed a 20 percent tariff on all US ethanol imports.
Earlier this week, Brazil allowed its current tariff rate quota (TRQ) to expire and replaced it with the 20 percent tariff. Calling the move devastating for US ethanol, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper says the two countries are now at risk of destroying the great progress both nations have made as global leaders in ethanol production, marking a dramatic turn in a bilateral trade relationship.
“We are extremely disappointed in this news that Brazil and US trade negotiators have failed to reach a deal that would have averted Brazil’s implementation of a 20 percent tariff on all US ethanol imports,” Cooper said.
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President-elect Joe Biden has announced he will nominate Tom Vilsack as secretary of agriculture. Vilsack is a former two-term governor of Iowa who served as secretary of agriculture during all eight years of the Obama-Biden administration.
Representatives of the American Coalition for Ethanol, Growth Energy, Renewable Fuels Association, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association and Iowa Biodiesel Board have spoken out in support of Vilsack’s nomination.
“We congratulate Tom Vilsack on his nomination to once again lead USDA and know that he will hit the ground running,” said Brian Jennings, CEO of ACE. “Secretary Vilsack was the most effective advocate the biofuels industry had in the Obama administration and we are excited about working with him again, particularly with helping get the RFS back on track, continued infrastructure support for higher ethanol blends, and making sure farmers and biofuel producers are part of the solution to future policies designed