Author: Leah Douglas
(Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins (NYSE: ), led an organization that opposed ethanol mandates and farm subsidies, major programs she could affect if confirmed, according to a Reuters review of policy statements groups.
That background could put Rollins at odds with state farm lawmakers at her nomination hearing Thursday and revive concerns in the powerful corn and biofuel lobbies about Trump’s mixed record on ethanol during his first term in office.
“The hearing is the perfect opportunity for her to disavow the misleading and demonstrably false statements made about ethanol by some of her colleagues over a decade ago,” said Geoff Cooper, executive director of the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade group.
Rollins served as president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation from 2003 to 2018, during which time the oil-industry-backed nonprofit argued that government subsidies for ethanol contributed to higher emissions and rising food and fuel prices.
The oil industry sees ethanol as a threat to its gasoline market share and says a federal mandate requiring biofuel to be blended into the nation’s fuel supply is costing a fortune in compliance costs.
“As a way to save the planet, there aren’t many policies worse than government-backed ethanol. It’s bad for the economy, bad for the environment, doesn’t reduce greenhouse gases, and has sent food prices skyrocketing,” said one article that published by the Texas group in 2012.
In 2017, Rollins endorsed Kathleen Hartnett White, the group’s longtime energy program director, to serve as Trump’s chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The White House later withdrew her nomination after a contentious hearing that included criticism of her views on ethanol by state senators.
In 2008, White supported then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s push to partially waive the state’s ethanol blending program, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard. The Environmental Protection Agency, which administers the program, denied Perry’s request.
During Rollins’ tenure, the group also called for an end to farm subsidies in a 2016 report titled “Policymakers’ Guide to Corporate Welfare.”
The report said that offering credit guarantees to farmers to start or expand their businesses “introduces distortions to the market”.
USDA issues billions of dollars in direct and guaranteed loans each year to support the domestic farm.
Rollins, who served as acting director of the White House Domestic Policy Council during Trump’s first term, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Agriculture Committee for a hearing on her nomination on Thursday.
“Brooke Rollins will work to carry out the president’s agenda, and you can look at President Trump’s previous statements on support for biofuels to understand the administration’s position on this issue,” said Anna Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Trump administration’s transition team.
During his 2017-21 term, Trump boosted corn-based ethanol production by allowing year-round sales of high-ethanol gasoline blends, but he also angered the ethanol industry by expanding the use of exemptions exempting small refiners from federal blending requirements.
During the Biden administration, Rollins led the America First Policy Institute, a political organization closely associated with Trump that has expressed skepticism about climate change.
More than 400 state and national farm groups wrote to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairmen John Boozman and Amy Klobuchar on Jan. 15 to endorse Rollins.
“Her close working relationship with President-elect Trump will ensure that agriculture and rural America have a prominent and influential voice at the table when key decisions are made in the White House,” the letter said.
