WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last week U.S. Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.) introduced legislation that would tie the amount of corn ethanol production to U.S. corn supplies.

“It’s long past time for us to have a serious discussion about the government’s role in supporting ethanol,” Goodlatte said at a press conference with members of the U.S. agricultural community. “One of the big drivers of ethanol is an artificial market created by the federal government. The Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) mandates that 36 billion gallons of ethanol be in our nation’s fuel supply.

“This mandate is being fulfilled by grain ethanol that comes from corn. This artificial market has created a chain reaction that is hurting consumers. It’s expected that this year, about 40 percent of the corn crop will be used for ethanol production.”

The legislation, called the Renewable Fuels Standard Flexibility Act of 2011, would set up a process to require the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review twice each year the USDA’s report on the current crop year’s ratio of U.S. corn stocks-to-use in making a determination on the RFS. In years with tight stocks-to-use ratios, a reduction to the RFS could be made.

Kevin Kester, California cattleman, president of the California Cattlemen’s Assoc. and a member of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc. (NCBA), said the legislation will provide relief from tight corn supplies.

“Let me be clear: Cattlemen are not opposed to ethanol,” Kester said. “We just want to have a fair shake to compete head-to-head for a bushel of corn and stop the government intrusion into the private marketplace. Unfortunately, the 1-2-3 punch of the import tariff, the blender’s credit and production mandates have resulted in an artificial manipulation of the price of corn, and have put a strain on the availability of feed.”

Kester said since 2004, there’s been a 380 percent increase in the use of corn for ethanol. “This bill will for the first time tie the corn stocks-to-use ratio to the government-mandated renewable fuels standards. It will ensure there will be more corn available to end users,” he said.

The NCBA and other groups opposed to the current RFS point to analysis by Steve Meyer, president of Paragon Economics, a livestock and grain marketing and economic advisory company based in Adel, Iowa. Meyer spoke recently on behalf of the NCBA before the U.S. House Subcommit-tee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry.

Meyer testified he understands ethanol mandates have created an ethanol industry and that it’s not possible to “un-ring the bell. “But there is no such thing as a free lunch,” he said. “Subsidized ethanol has meant record high corn prices, record high costs of production for meat and poultry, resulting in lower per capita meat and poultry output, and, finally, record high meat prices.”

He testified the U.S. pork industry lost $6 billion in equity from 2007-09 and in recent years, 6,350 hog operations exited the industry, with 84 percent of them holding 500 or fewer hogs in inventory.