Ten US Senators yesterday released a bill to cut the corn ethanol mandate from the Renewable Fuel Standard. The high-profile political battle, which has been called a “fight between Big Corn and Big Oil,” entered a new phase with the introduction of this bi-partisan bill.

“I strongly support requiring a shift to low-carbon advanced biofuel, including biodiesel, cellulosic ethanol and other revolutionary fuels. But a corn ethanol mandate is simply bad policy,” Diane Feinstein (D-CA) said in a statement.

Biofuel industry trade group Fuels America said the following in response to the bill:

“First and second generation renewable fuel are linked and in weakening the corn ethanol industry, this bill will kill the promise of cellulosic fuels – the very sector the Senators claim to support.

“First-generation producers are investing in the next generation of clean fuels. Damaging those companies would result in a huge reduction in investments aimed at cellulosic commercialization.

“It would also signal to investors that the RFS did not create the stable marketplace that it was intended to, and that Congress could change any part of the law based on the political mood of the day. Together, these consequences would fatally damage the future of advanced fuels in America.

“Economists agree that oil is the main driver of high food prices, not corn. And the widespread belief that 44 percent of the corn crop goes toward ethanol is untrue. Roughly a third of that corn is made into high-protein animal feed. This bill is based on rumors perpetuated by the oil industry, not facts.”