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Farm Bureau has expressed extreme disappointment over the Senate’s failure to pass a long-awaited energy bill. According to Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), "The Senate’s failure to move forward with a strategic and comprehensive energy bill deals a harsh blow to America’s farmers."

The renewable fuels provision of the bill would have nearly doubled ethanol production by 2012, according to AFBF estimates. This would have created $51 billion in new farm income from higher corn prices, reduced the trade deficit by $34 billion by displacing 1.4 billion barrels of imported crude oil and created 214,000 jobs in ethanol production, primarily in rural areas.

AFBF said the bill failed because of disagreement over provisions that waived liability for MTBE producers. MTBE is the petroleum based oxygenate which is facing numerous lawsuits based on the product’s negative impact on groundwater.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, said the work on a comprehensive energy bill would begin again in January.