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ALTOONA Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley struck Thursday at opponent Ron DeSantis’ attempts to end federal ethanol mandates, in front of an audience of hundreds who had gathered to discuss and promote biofuels.
“Ron DeSantis just came here and spoke to you,” Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, said at the annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit. “Did he tell you that he authored legislation to ban the Renewable Fuel Standard? Did he tell you that he co-sponsored five different bills to ban the Renewable Fuel Standard?”
Haley was referring to a federal program that is meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by requiring refiners to blend certain amounts of ethanol and biodiesel with petroleum-based gasoline and diesel.
DeSantis, now Florida governor, supported an end to the Renewable Fuel Standard when he was a congressman representing that state. As a presidential candidate, he has supported keeping the program.
The two candidates and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson made some final pleas to summit attendees for their support in the Jan. 15 Iowa Caucuses. Former President Donald Trump, widely believed to be a comfortable frontrunner in the contest, was in court in New York for his civil fraud trial.
Haley’s attack on DeSantis comes days after former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out of the race, potentially leaving his supporters up for grabs. Christie had not campaigned in Iowa but was the top choice of about 4% of likely caucusgoers, according to a Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll taken last month.
 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at the annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit on Jan. 11 in Altoona. (Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
DeSantis, in his speech at the summit that preceded Haley’s, said biofuels production is a component of his vision for the country’s energy independence.
“I don’t want to go hat in hand to Saudi Arabia and beg for energy,” DeSantis said. “I don’t want to have to rely on Venezuela. So we have an ability here in the United States to do an all-of-the-above strategy, including biofuels. And so I’ve learned what are the challenges that we are facing, what can be helpful.”
He said consumers should have access to E15 which is a gasoline blend that is 15% ethanol all year in every state and that higher percentage blends should be widely available.
DeSantis said, as president, he would confer with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on agricultural issues.
 Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spoke at the annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit on Jan. 11 in Altoona. (Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Reynolds has endorsed DeSantis and introduced him at the summit.
“He’s the real deal,” Reynolds said. “And if you like what we’re doing in Iowa, you’re gonna love what Ron will do for this country. He’ll get things done in Washington, D.C.”
Haley echoed DeSantis’ remarks about energy independence and using Iowa biofuels toward that goal. She also said her upbringing and home state connects her to Iowa farmers.
“I’m from an agricultural state,” Haley said. “I grew up playing on a cotton field and at a dairy farm. Farmers are your ultimate survivors. They can’t control the weather. They can’t control pricing. And the last thing they need is government pushing down on them more.”
About the same time Haley was criticizing DeSantis about the Renewable Fuel Standard, the Trump campaign distributed a press release that said: “DeSantis supported killing a federal mandate that is widely supported by the ethanol industry.”
The Trump campaign noted DeSantis vote for a budget amendment in 2015 and legislation he co-sponsored in 2017 that would have ended the Renewable Fuel Standard.
The campaign said energy independence “with Iowa ethanol at the center of the action” is a Trump priority, and that he will increase the country’s ethanol production and exports to other countries.
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