Letter to Roth from Rubin, Glickman, and Slater Supporting Tax Exemption for Ethanol

April 28, 1998

Honorable William V. Roth Jr.

Dear Bill:

[1] During the conference on the surface transportation reauthorization bill, we strongly urge you to support a bipartisan provision in the Senate bill which would extend the Federal tax exemption for ethanol until the year 2007.

[2] Continued public support for the ethanol program is vital to continuing the economic and environmental contributions ethanol is making to our country. Ethanol is a clean-burning, made-in-America fuel that has created thousands of jobs and provided a multi-billion dollar boost to rural communities and family farmers. In fact, the bulk of the industry's growth today comes from small farmers joining together in cooperatives that produce and sell ethanol. The gains from ethanol go well beyond those measured in dollars. The more we produce and use domestically-produced fuel, the less reliant our nation is on oil from foreign countries.

[3] Ethanol is also good for the environment. New research shows that ethanol can reduce substantially greenhouse gas emissions compared with traditional fuels. As we more fully understand the heavy toll of carbon-based fuels on our environment, including air quality, it makes sense to invest in clean fuels that protect the environment without sacrificing our quality of life.

[4] However, without continued, strong Federal support, investments in this growing industry will dry up and ethanol's promise to our nation will evaporate, costing farmers and rural towns billions of dollars and thousands of hard-working Americans their jobs.

[5] For these reasons, we hope you will vote to include the broadly-supported Senate ethanol provisions (which were sustained on the floor by a bipartisan vote of 71 to 26) in the surface transportation reauthorization conference report.

Sincerely,

Robert E. Rubin Dan Glickman Rodney E. Slater

Gov. Terry Branstad, Past Chair Gov. Mike Huckabee

Gov. Mel Carnahan Gov. Jim Edgar

Gov. Ben Nelson Gov. John Engler

Gov. George Voinovich Gov. Pedro Rossello

Gov. Ann Carlson Gov. Marc Racicot

Gov. Tommy Thompson Gov. Bill Janklow

Gov. Ed Schafer Gov. Roy Romer