Daschle in talks on ethanol lobby job

By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published: August 7 2008 22:12

One of Barack Obama’s most important backers is in talks to become an adviser to the Renewable Fuels Association, the most powerful ethanol lobby in the US capital.
Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate majority leader who has long been an influential champion of the ethanol industry, told the Financial Times about the move in an interview.

The news underlines what ethanol proponents already believe: that in spite of Mr Obama’s remarks that the US might have to reconsider its ethanol policy in the wake of criticism about its impact on global food prices, the Democratic candidate and his advisers fundamentally support the industry.
John McCain, Mr Obama’s Republican rival, has said he supports ethanol as a fuel but opposes subsidies.
“I think that John McCain will probably try to shut down the ethanol industry. He’s been very overt about that,” Mr Daschle said. “Barack on the other hand recognises the importance of ethanol and of biofuels generally.”
When not acting for the Obama campaign, Mr Daschle works as a special policy adviser at Alston & Bird, a lobby group and law firm.
The former South Dakota senator said he would not serve as a lobbyist nor meet legislators on the RFA’s behalf.
However, he would advise the lobby group on addressing concerns about ethanol’s impact on the environment and food prices as well as how the industry could make a transition from the initial phase of ethanol production to “something more sophisticated and more diverse”.
Mr Daschle, who some tout as a potential chief of staff to Mr Obama, sits on the board of Mascoma, a company that is developing technology for cellulosic ­ethanol technologies.
Ethanol lobbyists have blamed food manufacturers and oil and gas companies for engineering attacks on the ethanol industry, including claims that dramatic increases in food prices are the result of so-called “food to fuel” mandates.
A World Bank report last month also blamed the large increase in US and European biofuel production for rising food prices that have especially burdened the poor in developing countries.
“I would argue that the World Bank was influenced by a lot of the conventional wisdom at the time created in part by the oil companies and the food companies,” Mr Daschle said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008