Senate panel to put ethanol under the microscope

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s agenda this year includes new scrutiny of ethanol.

A spokesperson for committee Democrats said a hearing is in the offing but hasn’t been scheduled yet. Whenever it occurs, the session will highlight the ongoing Capitol Hill battle over the renewable fuel.

Ethanol is already under attack from interests ranging from environmentalists to food industry groups to oil refiners, as well as a left-right coalition of lawmakers seeking to strip tax subsidies. Opponents of expanded ethanol use include Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the Environment and Public Works Committee's top Republican.

But ethanol retains powerful political support from farm-state lawmakers, who last year beat back an effort to end tax credits that are vital to the sector. Ethanol backers call the fuel a way to reduce reliance on oil and a driver of rural economies.

A 2007 energy law expanded the national renewable fuels mandate to reach 36 billion gallons annually by 2022. But a draft EPA report last week warned of several ecological harms that could accompany the expansion. Ethanol industry groups quickly attacked EPA’s draft study.

Ethanol backers won a victory recently when EPA approved higher ethanol amounts in gasoline marketed for use in cars from models years 2001 and younger.