por Philip Brasher y Dan Piller, DesMoinesRegister.com
A spokesman for Brazilian ethanol maker Unica responded to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s recent decision approving a 15 percent blend for ethanol with regular unleaded gasoline by suggesting that such approval should trigger an end to the 45-cent-per-gallon subsidy for blenders of ethanol in the US.
Joel Velasco of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association said “many U.S. ethanol groups have argued recently that after 30 years of tax credits and trade protection they are ready to compete without subsidies provided the government grants them greater access to America’s fuel pumps. With the EPA’s decision to increase ethanol limits by 50 percent for newer vehicles, that day has arrived.”
El subsidio de 45 centavos para las mezcladoras de etanol estadounidenses expira a fines de 2010, y los productores de etanol estadounidenses están sudando la extensión en el Congreso.
Brasil no subvenciona su industria de etanol alimentada con caña de azúcar. También permite mezclas de hasta un 25 por ciento en vehículos de motor.
(Fuente: DesMoinesRegister.com)