U.S. lawmakers back ethanol on Capitol Hill

By Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It is harder to find a lawmaker who isn't singing the praises of fuels blended from home-grown corn and other renewable sources despite many divisions in the U.S. Congress over how to deal with the U.S. energy supply crunch.

Ethanol's growing mainstream appeal means that, for a change, subsidizing the renewable fuel will not be an issue when Iowans caucus to indicate their preferences for presidential candidates in 2008.

Lawmakers outside the Corn Belt objected for years to rising U.S. mandates to blend more ethanol with gasoline supplies, pointing to various transportation bottlenecks that hinder supplies from reaching the east and west coasts.

There are long-standing disagreements in Congress on how to deal with energy policy regarding drilling for oil in Alaska's wildlife refuge and global warming.

But with a rising focus on U.S. "energy security" and calls from both the Bush administration and Congress for "energy independence," ethanol is the undisputed king of the U.S. energy policy road.

These days, lawmakers are nearly unanimous in their support, said Monte Shaw, president of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, speaking at the Reuters Global Biofuel Summit.

"I'd like to say it's going to play a huge role (in the 2008 elections) but so far I haven't found anyone who isn't really excited about it," Shaw said, referring to ethanol.

Even Republican maverick Sen. John McCain of Arizona, considered a presidential candidate front-runner, has fallen largely silent on past opposition to subsidies and tax breaks for farmers to grow corn and turn it into ethanol, Shaw said.  Continued...