'Time to Look at $84 Billion in Oil Industry Subsidies,' As 850,000
      U.S. Farmers Invest $1 Billion to Produce Ethanol 

      WASHINGTON, July 22 /PRNewswire/ It's
      time to take a close look at an estimated $84 billion per year in
      subsidies to the oil industry, a representative of the growing
      homegrown renewable fuels market says. 

      Eric Vaughn, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, says
      the oil industry has an "insatiable appetite for government
      largess." He cites studies showing that: 

       Despite a corporate tax rate of 32 percent, the oil industry has
      an effective tax rate of only 11 percent. Major multinational
      integrated oil companies pay even less. 

       A conservative estimate of subsidies going to the petroleum
      industry each year places them at $84 billion. 

      "It's time to take a closer look at these subsidies," Vaughn said 
in
      a letter to the Washington Times published July 20. 

      By comparison, Vaughn said, more than 850,000 U.S. farmers have
      invested more than $1 billion to produce domestic, renewable
      ethanol from grain. Ethanol production is the thirdlargest use of
      corn, behind only feed and exports. 

      "The 1996 farm bill told farmers to look to the market for their
      income, and they have done just that," he said. 

      Defending ethanol against charges of "corporate welfare,"
      Vaughn noted that a recent Northwestern University study found
      that the ethanol tax incentive increases U.S. farm income more
      than $4.5 billion annually, increases employment by 195,000 jobs,
      and saves the federal Treasury more than $3.5 billion a year. 

      "The ethanol program saves taxpayers and the government
      money, stimulates growth in rural America, allows independent
      gasoline markets to compete against the majors and reduces air
      pollution and our dependency on imported oil," Vaughn said. 

      "That hardly qualifies as corporate welfare. That's a sound
      investment in our energy, economic and environmental future." 

      SOURCE Fuels for the Future 

      /CONTACT: Dean Reed, 2022233532, for Fuels for the Future/