WASHINGTON, DC – As lawmakers in the nation’s capital returned to work today, Growth Energy, the voice of American ethanol, delivered a message to Congress through a strategic ad campaign: “Say No to OPEC, Say Yes to America.”
The ad campaign includes a display ad in Roll Call and online ads – including home-page takeovers – on TheHill.com and on the daily E&E Newsletter. Overall, this media buy will deliver nearly 300,000 total impressions, between print circulation and online impressions.
Chris Thorne, Public Affairs Director for Growth Energy, said Growth Energy launched the advertising campaign to increase awareness among Members of Congress and their staff of the dangers of increasing our nation’s reliance on Middle East oil – which he said is precisely what would happen if two House amendments, proposed by Reps. John Sullivan, R-Okla., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., find their way into the final version of the Continuing Resolution being debated by Congress.
“As the Senate returns to the Capitol and starts work on the Continuing Resolution, they must understand the destructive consequences of legislation that would impose new regulatory hurdles and artificial barriers to the market for ethanol,” Thorne said. “Any legislation that imposes new regulations and erects new barriers to ethanol is legislation in favor of sending more American money to OPEC. Last time I looked, it was political unrest in the Middle East that was costing American consumers tens of millions more in gas prices every single day. Ethanol is the only viable alternative we have to foreign oil.”
The “media blitz” comes after Growth Energy and other American energy and farm groups condemned House passage of the Flake and Sullivan amendments with little debate or consideration of the impact of the legislation. Specifically, the amendments would prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from implementing its approved waiver for E15 ethanol blends in America’s fuel supply, and prohibit the U.S. Department of Agriculture from offering incentives for the construction of blender pumps.
“These provisions won’t save any money for the federal government. If they are going to fill the deficit hole, Members of Congress should consider cutting the tens of billions of dollars that go in subsidies, tax credits and giveaway for the oil companies,” said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy.