Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who is running for president as a Democrat, is siding with farmers on a renewable fuel rule. The EPA will increase the quantity of ethanol in the U.S. fuel supply above its initial proposal earlier this year, but many corn growers and other ethanol advocates are upset that the new level still falls short of what was originally projected back in 2007.
"Climate change is the great global-environmental crisis that we face," says Sanders. "We have got to do everything we can to break our dependence on fossil fuel, move to energy efficiency, and move to sustainable energies. I know that Iowa is doing a really great job in terms of wind and in terms of biofuels. So I think we have to be supportive of that effort and take every step that we can, in every way that we can, including growth of the biofuels industry."
Some say government support of ethanol actually hurts the environment, since it incentivizes farmers to plant more corn, which in turn contributes to climate change.
