Source:  Christine Steffens, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 9/20/10

The Environmental Protection Agency could raise the ethanol blend in motor fuel to 15 percent for at least some vehicles as soon as early-to-mid October, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack predicted.

“I expect that they will see that E15 is an appropriate fuel for some vehicles,” he said during a press conference last week, according to Reuters.

This would be a victory for ethanol companies and a blow to the poultry and meat industry which has lobbied for EPA to do more research before making the decision.

IF EPA does approve the 15 percent blend, E15, as the fuel would be known, should be available within a few months, a spokesman for Growth Energy, which represents ethanlol producers, said after a recent meeting with EPA Chief Lisa Jackson, according to the National Chicken Council’s Washington Report.  
Ethanol fuel is currently blended using 10 percent ethanol, and the increase would place a greater demand on the U.S. corn supply.

Reacting to a recent USDA report that corn yields this year are looking lower than early expected, corn futures prices hit a two-year high of over $5 per bushel last week on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Livestock and poultry feed are largely comprised of corn and soybeans. Rising prices of corn make it more expensive for producers to raise animals and can squeeze margins for meat and poultry processors.

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