AP and staff reports

President Bush is backing the ethanol industry – terrific news for area corn growers, said Gary Pestorious, president of the board of directors at Exol.

Monday, June 11, 2001

President Bush is backing the ethanol industry – terrific news for area corn growers, said Gary Pestorious, president of the board of directors at Exol.

President Bush decided over the weekend to deny California’s request for an exemption from a requirement to have clean-burning additives in its gasoline. Pestorious said the decision should translate into higher demand for ethanol, the primary additive available to refiners to help fuel burn more cleanly

&uot;California is a huge market – about 45 percent of the country’s gasoline. The demand for ethanol could double or more,&uot; Pestorious said.

Pestorious said existing ethanol plants in Minnesota will likely move ahead with plans for expansion, and new facilities could be in the state’s future. But he hopes the industry moves forward with caution, despite the president’s decision.

&uot;I think there’s enough corn out there, but we can’t move too quickly,&uot; Pestorious said. &uot;I do think the country wants cleaner air. It’s good for everybody.&uot;

The decision on the lucrative California gas market could give a huge boost to corn farmers throughout the region. California has banned another additive, MTBE, because it tainted water supplies.

The Environmental Protection Agency was expected to issue the decision officially as early as Tuesday, administration officials said.

Two members of South Dakota’s congressional delegation – U.S. Sens. Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson – asked Bush not to exempt California.

”Tim would be pleased that the president did not back the waiver,” Bob Martin, spokesman for Johnson, said Saturday.

He noted that Friday, Johnson, a Democrat, and Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican, introduced a bill to require all gasoline and diesel sold in the United States to contain at least 1 percent ethanol or other renewable fuel by 2008, 3 percent by 2011 and 5 percent by 2016.

The Bush decision is good for the environment, farmers in corn-growing states and the budding ethanol industry, Martin said.