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Noem Blames EPA for Not Upholding Trump’s Ethanol Promise

Governor Kristi Noem joins the South Dakota Farmers Union in protesting the Trump Administration’s underhanded switcheroo on ethanol. But as a loyal Trumpist, Governor Noem can’t come out and say Il Duce broke a promise. To duck Donald’s wrath, Governor Noem has to adopt the absurd position that Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency is somehow separate from the Executive Branch that Trump controls.

In touting a letter she so-signed with Minnesota’s more sensible Governor Tim Walz on behalf of the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition, Noem says Trump is still great but the evil EPA is failing our farmers:

“President Trump’s announcement to expand ethanol production would be an incredible shot in the arm for South Dakota’s farmers. It would increase the demand for corn and improve long-term agriculture stability,” said Noem. “This announcement is meaningless, though, if the EPA fails to honor the president’s direction and shirks its responsibility to American farmers. The EPA’s recently proposed rules fail to fix the problems they previously caused and once again do not enforce ethanol production requirements. I strongly urge Administrator Wheeler and EPA leadership to reconsider this approach and utilize actual exempted gallon data to ensure the support of farmers and ranchers in South Dakota and throughout the nation.”

“EPA chose to approve these waivers at a time when farmers and biofuel producers were already hurt by adverse weather conditions, flagging export market opportunities, and chronically low commodity prices. Approving these waivers when the agriculture economy was struggling represented a callous disregard for the economic interest our nation’s farmers,” Noem and Walz wrote in the letter [emphasis original; Office of the Governor, propaganda, 2019.10.31].

Governor Walz accedes to Governor Noem’s civic schizophrenia, but their letter emphasizes that Trump “reached an agreement with the nation’s farm representatives” and uses the word agreement ten more times (and agreed once) to portray the promise Trump made as binding. The letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler refers to the EPA’s proposed implementation of Trump’s direction as “a complete abrogation of the agreement President Trump announced only weeks earlier.”

But let’s be serious: saying the EPA is breaking Donald Trump’s agreement is saying Donald Trump is breaking Donald Trump’s agreement. Trump appointed Wheeler; Trump can tweet-fire Wheeler if he thinks Wheeler isn’t doing his bidding, as Trump has with numerous other Cabinet officials. Wheeler does the will of the White House… and apparently the will of the White House is not to boost ethanol.

Expecting Donald Trump to keep his word, not mention expecting a former coal lobbyist appointed head of the EPA to do a favor for alternatives to fossil fuels, is as smart as expecting oil pipelines not to leak. Equally foolish is expecting Kristi Noem to directly criticize Donald Trump for breaking his promise to South Dakota farmers.

6 Comments

  1. jerry 2019-11-01 09:17

    The evil EPA, good one. Without it, we would be drinking more crap in our water that didn’t catch fire. Soon the EPA will probably be shut down anyway as the accomplices to Chubby want to stop his impeachment.

    Here in South Dakota, the shame of that failure is being prepared for.

    “Fearing the effects of a potential federal government shutdown on funding for an underground science facility in Lead, the facility’s oversight board on Thursday approved setting up a $5 million line of credit with a bank.”

    This is no way to run a country unless you want to run it into the ditch, Hello Roman Empire, British, Spanish, Portuguese and the list goes on.

  2. Donald Pay 2019-11-01 09:54

    Trump doesn’t care about ethanol or farmers. He cares about oil, coal and the money that industry can provide him. Trump is a Republican, after all, and the fossil fuel industry owns the National Republican Party. Always has, always will. No piss ant South Dakota Governor is going to change that. Trump is just carrying out the orders the oil industry lobbyists have given him.

    Nice try, Governor Noem, but if you want to blame EPA, who appointed and confirmed the head of that agency? Oh, Trump, Thune, Rounds. That’s who’s to blame. Don’t blame Democrats for that one. Andrew Wheeler, EPA head, was a long-time coal lobbyist. The coal industry and the oil industry work together to limit alternative sources of energy. If Noem expects a fossil fuel industry lobbyist to be fair to the ethanol industry, she’s expecting a miracle, and since fossil fuels are God in the Republican Party, that miracle ain’t happening.

  3. Debbo 2019-11-01 15:56

    My representative paired with colleagues, including GOP, to write a bill that actually helps farmers. It’s not huge, but it’s a lot more than the GOP is doing.

    Rep. Angie Craig, MN-2 and Rep. Lloyd Smucker, PA-11, sent a bill to committee that allows truckers hauling livestock or perishable farm goods more time to reach their destination. If the truck is within 150 miles of the destination, it may continue, even if Hours of Service have expired.

    So milk trucks, turkey trucks, etc, can extend their routes, transport more product farther.
    is.gd/W5KocT

    Will Moscow Mitch allow a vote on it? Will #2 use his influence to help farmers?

  4. Debbo 2019-11-01 16:12

    In addition, Rep. Angie Craig has another bipartisan farm bill in the House, the Seeding Rural Resilience Act.

    It will provide stress management training to people who work with farmers, like the FSA, RMA and National Resources Conservation Service Employees; create a program aimed at rural areas to destigmatize mental health issues; and direct the Secretary of Ag to work with stakeholders to come up with a real plan to help farm people respond to stresses.
    is.dg/YqH24Q

    Another effort that’s not foolproof, but she’s trying. Rep. Craig comes back to Minnesota every break and she doesn’t just expect people to come to her town halls. She goes to the people where they are. These farm bills came directly from her meetings with farmers. The Farmers Union, Farm Bureau and every other farm org you can think of endorses these 2 bills.

    What Rep. Craig does is what every single elected official should do. It’s what South Dakotans have a right and a need to demand from their representation in DC and Pierre. That includes statewide, like NoMa’am and Ravsbutt.

  5. jerry 2019-11-02 09:13

    Chubby also promised a wall that was impenetrable, impossible to break through. GNOem needs to request at least 5,000 troops to come to South Dakota to uphold the Chubby promise.

    “Smugglers are sawing through new sections of Trump’s border wall

    Using popular power tools fitted with specialized blades, cutters are defeating the steel bollards, opening gaps large enough for people and drugs to pass through, agents and officials said” Washington Post 11/2/2019

    Smugglers cut the holes and then welders fix them. We need to call that what it is, a boondoggle of epic proportions. Perpetual motion that cost us billions.

  6. Debbo 2019-11-02 14:36

    Boondoggle Bozo and the GOP, our Russian Keystone Kops.

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