Is it stupid to grow corn to fuel your car? Yup!

Corn growers vs. EPA

Axios News

It's not stupid for farmers who's agenda is different from yours.

Illinois corn growers are attacking a Biden administration plan that's expected to accelerate a transition to electric vehicles.

What's happening: The Illinois Corn Growers Association last week joined industry groups nationwide in pressuring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pump the brakes on proposed auto tailpipe rules.

Why it matters: The rules would radically change our automotive landscape and improve air quality, but some growers in Illinois — the second-biggest corn producer in the nation — say they could also devastate the industry.

Driving the news: The EPA rules, proposed in April, would in effect require two-thirds of new car sales to be EVs by 2032.

If enacted, the Illinois Corn Growers Association predicts the drop in gasoline use would, over the span of 10 years, reduce the need for 1 billion bushels of corn that would've been used to make ethanol.

Zoom in: Gov. JB Pritzker aims to put 1 million EVs on Illinois roads by 2030, and this week the governor is in the U.K. promoting the state as an EV manufacturing leader.

But rural Midwest opposition to EVs could present election challenges for Pritzker and Biden.

What they're saying: Corn growers say they're not opposed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions per se, but they suggest the government achieve those goals through other avenues, including high-octane blends using more corn-based ethanol, which they say burns cleaner.

The other side: "While I've long been a proponent of a mix of technologies, I personally think the era of ethanol, particularly from corn, has largely passed," automotive analyst Sam Abuelsamid tells Axios' Joann Muller.

"It has become clear that it is not going to provide the degree of decarbonization required to meet climate goals, particularly for ground transportation."